Congestión en el servicio de urgencias ¿retrasa la primera dosis de antibiótico o analgésico?

Abstract

Introduction: Colombia doesn’t have studies to show the effect of overcrowding in emergency departments about the opportunities in treatment. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of overcrowding in an emergency department in Bogotá over the time of administration of the first dose of antibiotic and/or analgesic, also proposed to determine the percentage of patients who left the service without medical evaluation. Methods: It was raised, a time study at the event, using survival analysis methodology to determine if there were significant delay in the administration of the first dose of treatment according the occupancy of the emergency room, also evaluated the proportion of patients who leave the emergency service without being seen. Results: 127 patients needed application of an antibiotic and 982 of an analgesic. The median delay in the first dose was 364 minutes and 104 minutes, respectively. The analysis in the survival’s curves showed that there were no statistical differences in the opportunity to administration of the first dose of antibiotic (p = 0.3908) or analgesic (p = 0.3924) between three levels of NEDOCS congestion scale simultaneously. The proportion of people who left the service without being seen was 2.35%, equivalent to 92 persons. Discussion: The median time of chance of treatment were higher that quality standards and reports in previous studies. No differences were found in the delay in the administration of antibiotic or analgesic but we hope that this work will be useful for decision making, seeking benefit patients attending the emergency department with timely initiation of treatment.