665 Management of Epistaxis Patients After Nasal Pack Removal - Quality Improvement Project

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Epistaxis is a common emergency and treatments include cautery and nasal packing. NICE guidelines recommend Naseptin® (chlorhexidine and neomycin) and routine practice is to perform cautery if bleeding point identified following pack removal. Method Retrospective analysis of electronic records over a 9-month period identified 114 patients admitted with epistaxis. Results Demographics: 65 male, 49 females (roughly 13:10 ratio), an average age of 72.5 and median age: 76. 8 patients had 2 presentations with epistaxis (3 had SPA ligation on repeat admission). 97 patients were packed, 17 no packing performed. Reasons for admission without packing was observation after cautery (7), observation without cautery (5) and admission under medics for non-epistaxis issue (5). Of patients with discharge summaries, 90% had naseptin prescribed. Of patient admitted under medics, only 60% discharged with naseptin. 70 patients (61.4%) were cauterized, 16 patients (14%) examined, but no cautery required, and 28 patients (24.5%) had no documentation of examination or cautery attempt. Conclusions The majority of patients are receiving naseptin on discharge but room for improvement. Although small sample size of 5, greater portion medical patients discharged without naseptin, better handover required. Almost a quarter of patients (24.5%) did not have any documentation of cautery attempts.