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Resource utilisation for syncope presenting to an acute hospital Emergency Department
F McCarthy1, S De Bhladraithe, C Rice
1Department of Medicine for the Elderly, St James's Hospital, James's Street, Dublin, Ireland. francesmcc@eircom.net
Background:
Syncope is a common clinical problem accounting for up to 6% of hospital admissions. Little is known about resource utilisation for patients admitted for syncope management in Ireland.
Aim:
To determine the utilisation of resources for patients admitted for syncope management.
Methods:
Single centre observational case series of consecutive adult patients presenting to an acute hospital Emergency Department with syncope over a 5-month period.
Results:
Two-hundred and fourteen of 18,898 patients (1.1%) had a syncopal episode, 110 (51.4%) of whom were admitted. Mean length of stay was 6.9 days. Sixty-four of these admissions were deemed unnecessary by retrospective review when compared to ESC guidelines. Eighty-five (77.3%) admitted patients had cardiac investigations and 56 (51%) had brain imaging performed.
Conclusions:
Syncope places a large demand on overstretched hospital resources. Most cases can be managed safely as an outpatient and to facilitate this, hospitals should develop outpatient Syncope Management Units.
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