Scaphoid Fracture, Wrist Fracture
Conditions
Brief summary
This is a mono centric, prospective, randomised trial on the implementation and assessment of a shortened pathway for mono-trauma of the wrist and suspected fracture of distal radius and/or ulna and/or scaphoid bone.
Detailed description
Patients will be randomised into two groups: fast track and normal pathway. At the arrival in the Emergency Department a triage will be performed. In case of met inclusion criteria the patient will sign the informed consent and will be randomised in one of the two study groups. The fast track group will be straightforwardly evaluated for absence of exclusion criteria (in case of exclusion criteria present the investigators will follow the normal pathway and the patient will not be included in the study). Then, patients will be assessed with an ad hoc checklist and then sent for x-ray performance, if necessary. After the x-ray the patients will be examined by an emergency physician that will have the opportunity to request new x-ray views if necessary. The normal pathway group will go straight to medical examination as soon as possible, depending on waiting times in the Emergency Department. Investigators will collect anagraphical data, waiting times, time to x-ray, overall length of stay in the Emergency Department, patients' and staff's satisfaction for the two groups.
Interventions
OTHERfast track
short cut for the request of xrays directly at triage
OTHERnormal pathway
x-ray would be required according to doctor's clinical evaluation.
Sponsors
Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale, Bellinzona
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* adults patients presenting at the emergency dept with suspected scaphoid or wrist fracture * monotrauma * written informed consent
Exclusion criteria
* patients younger than 18 yr * pregnant women * either vascular or neural impairment * signs of open fracture * multiple trauma patient
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| number of x rays requested | From admission to discharge, up to 2.5 hours | the number of xray requested |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| patient's satisfaction | From admission to discharge, up to 2.5 hours | Patients' satisfaction will be tested with the help of the brief emergency department patient satisfaction scale (BEPSS). The questionnaire consists of 20 questions and for each item, a response scale form 1 (completely disagree) to 4 (completely agree) is used. |
| waiting time before examination | From admission to discharge, up to 2.5 hours | — |
| waiting time before xray | From admission to discharge, up to 2.5 hours | — |
| total length of stay in the emergency department | From admission to discharge, up to 2.5 hours | — |
Countries
Switzerland
Outcome results
None listed