Errors in Differential Diagnosis of Burn Injury at the Prehospital Stage

Abstract

Relevance. An important component of the diagnostic process in combustiology is the collection of anamnesis. At the same time, verification of the very fact of a burn injury of the skin, as a rule, does not seem to be a difficult task even for a novice doctor. However, specialists from the I.I. Dzhanelidze Institute regularly encounter errors in the differential diagnosis of burn injuries at the prehospital stage on the part of both ambulance teams (EMS) and surgeons (traumatologists) of non-specialized medical institutions. Each such case attracts attention and takes up a significant part of the time resource of the entire staff of the inpatient department of the emergency medical service for the process of clarifying and verifying the correct diagnosis, as well as determining the further routing of such a patient.Aim of study. To study the structure of diagnostic errors at the prehospital stage of the EMS to optimize patient routing by improving the existing organizational and methodological standards.Material and methods. A retrospective analysis of the case histories of all victims who were admitted to the inpatient department of the Emergency Medical Department of the I.I. Dzhanelidze St. Petersburg Research Institute of Emergency Medicine during the period from January 2018 to December 2019.Results. 4,951 patients were admitted with a leading diagnosis of the referring institution, suggesting a history of burn injury. The incidence of diagnostic errors at the prehospital stage of emergency care was 410 cases (8.3%), while burn injury was completely excluded in 178 cases (3.6%).Conclusions. 1. The results of the analysis revealed a high incidence of diagnostic errors at the prehospital stage of emergency care (8.3%), the main reason for which is the lack of awareness of differential diagnostics within the narrow specialty (combustiology) of primary contact physicians. 2. Shown is the introduction of training practice for doctors and paramedics of emergency medical services, surgeons and traumatologists of primary care in combustiology cycles in specialized burn departments. 3.In order to ensure continuity in the process of providing medical care to patients with burns, it is necessary to create a unified database of convalescents to form a feedback channel with the outpatient clinic during the implementation of the rehabilitation complex.