Hi
As an SpR in Emergency Medicine I have had experience of using the Biosite
Panel at two centres (Leighton and Macclesfield). I have also been able to
carry out audits of its use at both hospitals.
We have found that when implemented correctly the "panels" do assist in the
assessment of patients with cardiac chest pain. The main drawback is that
the panels tend to get overused and abused. We have had several cases where
the panels are used inappropriately - a patient who was being thrombolysed,
another patient with a head injury, patients with pancreatitis etc. We also
found that patients were being discharged with abnormal panel results.
While being a clinical risk nightmare this has had huge financial
implications.
We decided the only way to use the Biosite panel correctly and efficiently
was to use a tick box proforma following a flow chart for incluson and
exclusion criteria. This meant that data collection for audit would be
easier and we would have a means of feeding back to the individual
requesting the test if they had used the investigation incorrectly.
The Leighton crew will be presenting their data as a poster at this years
Annual Scientific Meeting in Edinburgh.
If you want anymore information let me know.
Suzanne
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