Abstract
New Zealand lacks a formal abdominal aortic aneurysm screening programme and owing to its rural nature, many patients have limited access to vascular surgery. Patients with vascular emergencies often have limited treatment options locally, especially if they present perimortem. In our small hospital in Whanganui, with the nearest vascular centre more than 150km away, there are cases of aneurysms diagnosed incidentally on radiology reporting but lost to follow-up. Clinical Portal (CP) is a widely used patient-centred dashboard for viewing health information that is managed by Orion Health. A search strategy utilising the CP common database was devised that aimed to find aneurysms which were not followed up. This search was performed retrospectively for all imaging within a 5-month period. Some 294 scans were flagged and 53 patients with aneurysms were found. Of these patients, 36 had follow-up by the ordering provider and 17 (32%) were found to have been lost to follow-up. Our pilot study demonstrated high rates of loss to follow-up and a lack of communication of important health information across multiple health disciplines in the region, and represents a potential method for identifying 'lost' aneurysms. For patients in rural communities, this may be critical to preventing future complications from aneurysmal disease.
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