COMPARISON OF PRE-HOSPITAL PRELIMINARY DIAGNOSIS AND DEFINITIVE DIAGNOSIS IN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT IN PATIENTS BROUGHT BY AMBULANCE

Abstract

Aim: In this study, it was evaluated whether the anamnesis taken by paramedics before the hospital and the physical examination performed by paramedics in a limited time in non-traumatic patients brought to a second-level district state hospital by ambulance showed targeted effectiveness and whether the appropriate preliminary diagnosis was made in the evaluations made, and these preliminary diagnoses were compared with the final diagnoses made after the examinations in the emergency department. Methods: Between 01.01.2023 and 30.06.2023, patients brought to a State Hospital by ambulance were retrospectively analyzed. All age groups brought from the field for non-traumatic reasons were included in the study. Results: During the study period, all patients brought to our emergency department by ambulance were examined. The mean age of the patients was 66. More than half of the cases were female (57.7%). Comparison of the body systems belonging to the symptoms and preliminary diagnoses considered by the paramedics with the body systems belonging to the definitive diagnoses made in the emergency department showed a statistically moderate level of agreement between the pathologies considered by the 112 teams and the pathologies considered by the emergency department physicians in all body systems except the pathologies of the genitourinary system (Kappa 0.558). Conclusion: It was observed that the preliminary diagnosis or symptom stated in the case form by ambulance workers working in prehospital emergency health services was similar to the definitive diagnostic systems in the emergency department. However, it was found that 74.9% of the case forms indicated symptoms instead of preliminary diagnosis. This may have been due to the fact that paramedics did not want to take responsibility by stating a more general approach in patient delivery.