Lack of existing guidelines for a large group of patients in Sweden: a national survey across the acute surgical care delivery chain
2017 (engelsk)Inngår i: Journal of Evaluation In Clinical Practice, ISSN 1356-1294, E-ISSN 1365-2753, Vol. 23, nr 1, s. 89-95Artikkel i tidsskrift (Fagfellevurdert) Published
Abstract [en]
Rationale, aims and objectivesEvidence-informed healthcare is the fundament for prac-tice, whereby guidelines based on the best available evidence should assist health profes-sionals in managing patients. Patients seeking care for acute abdominal pain form acommon group in acute care settings worldwide, for whom decision-making and timelytreatment are of paramount importance. There is ambiguity about the existence, use andcontent of guidelines for patients with acute abdomen. The objective was to describe andcompare guidelines and management of patients with acute abdomen in different settingsacross the acute care delivery chain in Sweden.MethodA national cross-sectional design was used. Twenty-nine ambulance stations, 17emergency departments and 33 surgical wards covering all six Swedish health regions wereincluded, and 23 guidelines were quality appraised using the validated Appraisal of Guide-lines for Research & Evaluation II tool.ResultsThere is a lack of guidelines in use for the management of this large group of pa-tients between and within different healthcare areas across the acute care delivery chain.The quality appraisal identified that several guidelines were of poor quality, especiallythe in-hospital ones. Further, range orders for analgesics are common in the ambulance ser-vices and the surgical wards, but are seldom present in the emergency departments. Also,education in pain management is more common in the ambulance services. Thesefindingsare noteworthy as, hypothetically, the same patient could be treated in three different waysduring the same care episode.ConclusionsThere is an urgent need to develop high-quality evidence-based clinicalguidelines for this patient group, with the entire care process in focus
sted, utgiver, år, opplag, sider
2017. Vol. 23, nr 1, s. 89-95
Emneord [en]
abdominal pain, acute care delivery chain, ambulance, emergency care, guidelines, surgical care
HSV kategori
Identifikatorer
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-304033DOI: 10.1111/jep.12607ISI: 000395024900012PubMedID: 27491471OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-304033DiVA, id: diva2:975201
2016-09-292016-09-292018-01-10bibliografisk kontrollert