Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of a new emergency department (ED) intervention for the management of non-traumatic, anterior epistaxis in adult patients, aiming to reduce epistaxis admissions.
Design: A new epistaxis pathway was introduced for use by ED practitioners. This was disseminated in ED through an educational campaign by the ear, nose and throat team. A tranexamic acid (500 mg/5 mL)-soaked NasoPore® packing step was introduced for epistaxis which did not terminate following 10 min of simple first aid. The pathway was utilised for adult patients presenting with non-traumatic, anterior epistaxis. Pre- and post-implementation periods were defined, and all adults attending ED with non-traumatic, anterior epistaxis were included. Pre- and post-implementation epistaxis treatment interventions, admission rates and re-attendance rates were recorded by retrospective audit and compared.
Results: In the post-implementation group, epistaxis admissions were 51.7% (p < .05) lower than in the pre-implementation group, as a proportion of the total number attending ED with epistaxis during these periods.
Conclusions: The significant reduction in epistaxis admissions demonstrates that this ED intervention is beneficial for patient outcomes.
Keywords: emergency ORL; epistaxis; evidence-based medicine; health services research; outcomes; research.
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