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Recommended Care Level

EMERGENCY COMMUNICATION NURSES’ ABILITY TO CORRECTLY SELECT ABDOMINAL PAIN AS THE APPROPRIATE PROTOCOL IN TELEPHONIC NURSE TRIAGE SYSTEM

Mark Conrad Fivaz, MD, Jeff J. Clawson, MD, Christopher Olola, PhD, Greg Scott, MBA, EMD-QI, Matt Zavadsky, MS, Gigi Marshall, MSN, Elaine Messerli, BSN, RN

Aug 04, 2021|Research Posters

The primary objective of this study was to determine the ability of an Emergency Communication Nurse (ECN) to appropriately identify the Abdominal Pain Chief Complaint Protocol to use to triage patients in low-acuity cases. The secondary objectives were to establish the most frequently used primary triage code (Medical Priority Dispatch System™ (MPDS®) Determinant Codes), triggering the use of the Abdominal Pain Chief Complaint Protocol in the Emergency Communication Nurse System™ (ECNS™), as well as the percentage of these calls resulting in a Recommended Care Level (RCL) of “emergency a

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Emergency Communication Nurses' Ability to Correctly Select Abdominal Pain as the Appropriate Protocol in Telephonic Nurse Triage System

Mark Conrad Fivaz, MD, Jeff J. Clawson, MD, Christopher Olola, PhD, Greg Scott, MBA, EMD-QI, Matt Zavadsky, MS, Gigi Marshall, MSN, Elaine Messerli, BSN, RN

Oct 01, 2020|AEDR 2020 Vol. 8 Issue 2|Original Research

Abdominal pain is the most common symptom with which patients present to the emergency department (ED), and overall visits to EDs in the U.S. are growing twice as fast as the overall population. Interventions that can safely mitigate such a high usage of ED resources would be a great asset in the delivery of effective and efficient ED care. One such intervention is a secondary triage of patients calling 911 for an ambulance who were subsequently triaged as a non-urgent low-acuity caller. Emergency medical services (EMS) using secondary...

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The Distribution of Recommended Care Level Classification by Time of Day within the Emergency Communication Nurse System

Mark Conrad Fivaz, MD, Greg Scott, MBA, EMD-QI, Jeff J. Clawson, MD, Corike Toxopeus, PhD, Matt Zavadsky, MS, Kristen Miller, JD, Neal Richmond, MD, FACEP, Christopher Olola, PhD

Aug 01, 2015|AEDR 2015 Vol. 3 Issue 2|Original Research

Research has shown that two-thirds of emergency visits occur after business hours (weekdays 9am – 5pm). Therefore, identifying primary healthcare providers available after business hours is one strategy for improving appropriate access to healthcare services. Previous studies have also shown a high and steady volume of secondary triage-eligible calls throughout the day and into the evening. However, because the Emergency Communication Nurse (ECN) performing the secondary triage has some discretion on selecting the Recommended Care Level (RCL) based on resource...

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The Distribution of Recommended Care Levels by Age, Gender, and Trauma vs Medical Classification within the Emergency Communication Nurse System

Mark Conrad Fivaz, MD, Jennie McQueen, RN, Tracey Barron, BS, Jeff J. Clawson, MD, Greg Scott, MBA, EMD-QI, Isabel Gardett, PhD, Brett Patterson, Matt Zavadsky, MS, Neal Richmond, MD, FACEP, Christopher Olola, PhD

Mar 22, 2015|AEDR 2015 Vol. 3 Issue 1|Original Research

An examination of the Emergency Communications Nurse-determined Recommended Care Levels (RCLs), for calls transferred for secondary nurse-triage has not been performed. The outcome of such an investigation would help to gain a more complete picture of the type of care ultimately recommended for these patients. The Emergency Communications Nurse System (ECNS) studied contained 22 RCLs, ranging from urgent levels, including a country-specific 3-digit number Emergency response (911), and Emergency care as soon as possible to less time-dependent, low priority levels, such...

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