Evidence map›Paper›PMID 14734376›Full record

Trial reportEmergency medicine journal : EMJ2004

Can additional experienced staff reduce emergency medical admissions?

S Goodacre, S Mason, R Kersh, A Webster, N Samaniego, F Morris

Open access · bronzeAbstract readClinical TrialRandomized Controlled Trial
In one paragraph

Trial report in Emergency medicine journal : EMJ, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact, top 81% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

S GoodacreAccident and Emergency Department, Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, UK. s.goodacre@sheffield.ac.uk
S Mason
R Kersh
A Webster
N Samaniego
F Morris
Northern General Hospital · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundIncreases in emergency medical admissions are placing a strain upon hospitals throughout the world. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of a new post, the "A&E physician", upon emergency medical admissions to a hospital.

methodsFor six months the A&E physician workload was audited and a randomised controlled comparison undertaken. Days were randomised to "A&E physician present" or "A&E physician absent". The A&E physician recorded details of all patients referred for medical admission, any intervention made, and their disposal from A&E. Routine hospital data compared the mean daily number of medical admissions, non-medical admissions, and referrals to other hospitals.

results124 days were randomised: 59 to A&E physician present, 65 to A&E physician absent. The A&E physician received 581 referrals and intervened in the management of 142 (24%). Of these, 80 were discharged home, apparently saving 1.4 admissions per day. However, randomised comparison showed that presence of the A&E physician was associated with a reduction of only 0.7 medical admissions per day (95% CI -1.7 to 3.2, p = 0.561), and an increase of 1.1 non-medical admissions (95% CI -0.2 to 2.3, p = 0.09) and 0.3 transfers to other hospitals per day (95% CI zero to 0.6, p = 0.09). Overall, hospital admissions were increased by 0.9 per day when the A&E physician was present (95% CI -1.8 to 3.6, p = 0.5).

conclusionDespite receiving many referrals and discharging a substantial proportion of these patients home, the A&E physician did not significantly change emergency medical admissions and may have increased admissions to other specialties.

Indexed as

Emergency Medical ServicesEmergency MedicineHospitalizationEmergenciesHumansMedical Staff, HospitalUnited KingdomWorkforceWorkload

Identifiers

PMID14734376
PMCPMC1756346
OpenAlexW2144398790

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.