scholarly journals Anxiety Screening in the Emergency Department

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Pinto ◽  
Paul Musey, Jr., MD

Background and Hypothesis:  Preliminary research completed in the Indiana University Health Methodist Emergency Department (ED) determined that the prevalence of undetected or unaddressed abnormal anxiety levels in patients with low-risk chest pain was greater than 45%. This subset was noted to have abnormal anxiety symptoms that persisted following visits and increased ED recidivism. We hypothesize that the prevalence of abnormal anxiety in the general ED population will be similar to the subset of patients with low-risk chest pain shown previously.   Methods:  We enrolled a convenience sample of adult patients with non-psychiatric chief complaints who presented to IUH Methodist and Eskenazi Emergency Departments. Participants were assessed for abnormal anxiety levels using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item Scale (GAD-7) and the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS). Subjects will also complete these assessment tools at 30-days post-enrollment via phone or REDCap survey. Data regarding ED disposition, discharge diagnosis, and ED utilization over the previous 12 months and the 30 days post-enrollment will be collected from the electronic medical record (EMR).  Results:  Over four weeks, 108 patients were screened and 37 gave informed consent and were enrolled. Preliminary analysis shows that 21 subjects (56%) had a GAD-7 score ≥10, indicating abnormal anxiety levels. Full data analysis including comparison of HADS and GAD-7 scores will take place after 50 subjects have been enrolled, completed their 30-day follow-up surveys, and EMR review has taken place.   Conclusion:  Given data regarding ED visits in patients with low-risk chest pain, identification of anxiety and referral may reduce ED utilization.

2014 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-136.e3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer C. Chen ◽  
Richelle J. Cooper ◽  
Ana Lopez-O'Sullivan ◽  
David L. Schriger

Author(s):  
Paul I. Musey ◽  
Fernanda Bellolio ◽  
Suneel Upadhye ◽  
Anna Marie Chang ◽  
Deborah B. Diercks ◽  
...  

Circulation ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 130 (suppl_2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd Lecher ◽  
William R Davidson ◽  
Andrew Foy

Introduction: We sought to (1) classify patients who underwent stress echocardiography in an emergency department observation unit based on their pretest probabilities of obstructive CAD using the Diamond-Forrester criterion, (2) to compare observed versus expected frequencies of obstructive CAD based on the Diamond-Forrester risk categories of low (<25%), intermediate (25-75%), and high (>75%) pretest probability of disease, and (3) to test the association of traditional cardiovascular risk factors (age, gender, hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, and smoking) with obstructive CAD. METHODS: Retrospective review of the electronic medical record for patients who presented to the emergency department with chest pain and underwent observation followed by stress echocardiography between the period January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012. Patients were classified as low, intermediate, or high risk for obstructive CAD using the Diamond-Forrester criterion. Main outcome measures were stress echocardiography results as well as receipt of cardiac catheterization and results. RESULTS: A total of 504 patients were included in the final analysis. Overall, 4.8% had a positive stress test and only 1.2% had angiographic evidence of obstructive CAD. In each category of risk, the observed frequency of obstructive CAD was significantly lower than expected. Having a high pretest probability as defined by the Diamond-Forrester criterion was significantly associated with obstructive CAD. Age, gender, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, and smoking were not independently associated with evidence of obstructive CAD; nor were any composites of these risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: The traditional Diamond-Forrester criterion significantly overestimates the probability of obstructive CAD in ED observation unit patients. Reliance on the Diamond-Forrester criterion and other traditional risk factors associated with obstructive CAD in the outpatient setting could lead to faulty Bayesian reasoning, overuse of non-invasive imaging, and improper interpretation of test results in an ED population of low-risk chest pain patients. Further work is required to determine an optimal risk-assessment strategy for this patient population.


2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. S38
Author(s):  
L. Papa ◽  
H. Tran ◽  
N. O'Brien ◽  
J. O'Brien ◽  
M.A. Lopez ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 576-585
Author(s):  
Òscar Miró ◽  
Pedro Lopez-Ayala ◽  
Gemma Martínez-Nadal ◽  
Valentina Troester ◽  
Ivo Strebel ◽  
...  

Background We aimed to externally validate an emergency department triage algorithm including five hierarchical clinical variables developed to identify chest pain patients at low risk of having an acute coronary syndrome justifying delayed rather than immediate evaluation. Methods In a single-centre cohort enrolling 29,269 consecutive patients presenting with chest pain, the performance of the algorithm was compared against the emergency department discharge diagnosis. In an international multicentre study enrolling 4069 patients, central adjudication by two independent cardiologists using all data derived from cardiac work-up including follow-up served as the reference. Triage towards ‘low-risk’ required absence of all five clinical ‘high-risk’ variables: history of coronary artery disease, diabetes, pressure-like chest pain, retrosternal chest pain and age above 40 years. Safety (sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV)) and efficacy (percentage of patients classified as low risk) was tested in this initial proposal (Model A) and in two additional models: omitting age criteria (Model B) and allowing up to one (any) of the five high-risk variables (Model C). Results The prevalence of acute coronary syndrome was 9.4% in the single-centre and 28.4% in the multicentre study. The triage algorithm had very high sensitivity/NPV in both cohorts (99.4%/99.1% and 99.9%/99.1%, respectively), but very low efficacy (6.2% and 2.7%, respectively). Model B resulted in sensitivity/NPV of 97.5%/98.3% and 96.1%/89.4%, while efficacy increased to 14.2% and 10.4%, respectively. Model C resulted in sensitivity/NPV of 96.7%/98.6% and 95.2%/91.3%, with a further increase in efficacy to 23.1% and 15.5%, respectively. Conclusion A triage algorithm for the identification of low-risk chest pain patients exclusively based on simple clinical variables provided reasonable performance characteristics possibly justifying delayed rather than immediate evaluation in the emergency department.


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