Straight to the Operating Room: An Emergent Surgery Track for Acute Testicular Torsion Transfers.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of implementing an emergency surgery track for testicular torsion transfers. We hypothesized that transferring children from other facilities diagnosed with torsion straight to the operating room (STOR) would decrease ischemia time, lower costs, and reduce testicular loss. STUDY DESIGN: Demographics, arrival to incision time, hospital cost in dollars, and testicular outcome (determined by testicular ultrasound) at follow-up were retrospectively compared in all patients transferred to our tertiary care children's hospital with a diagnosis of testicular torsion from 2012 to 2016. Clinical data for STOR and non-STOR patients were compared by Wilcoxon rank-sum, 2-tailed t test, or Fisher exact test as appropriate. RESULTS: Sixty-eight patients met inclusion criteria: 35 STOR and 33 non-STOR. Children taken STOR had a shorter median arrival to incision time (STOR: 54 minutes vs non-STOR: 94 minutes, P < .0001) and lower median total hospital costs (STOR: $3882 vs non-STOR: $4419, P < .0001). However, only 46.8% of STOR patients and 48.4% of non-STOR patients achieved surgery within 6 hours of symptom onset. Testicular salvage rates in STOR and non-STOR patients were not significantly different (STOR: 68.4% vs non-STOR: 36.8%, P = .1), but follow-up was poor. CONCLUSIONS: STOR decreased arrival to incision time and hospital cost but did not affect testicular loss. The bulk of ischemia time in torsion transfers occurred before arrival at our tertiary care center. Further interventions addressing delays in diagnosis and transfer are needed to truly improve testicular salvage rates in these patients.

REDUCE-PCP study: radiographs in the emergency department utilization criteria evaluation-pediatric chest pain.

BACKGROUND: Many emergency physicians order chest x-rays (CXRs) for pediatric patients who present with a chief complaint of chest pain despite a paucity of research to support this testing, which exposes patients to radiation, cost, and delays. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to begin development of a decision making tool that will allow emergency physicians to selectively obtain CXR films in pediatric patients presenting with chest pain. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study of 400 consecutive pediatric patients with a chief complaint of chest pain and reviewed charts to determine how many received a CXR and which clinical characteristics were present in all patients. Chest radiograph findings were graded for significance as follows: (1) no or minor clinical significance: normal result in the CXR film without effect on the immediate evaluation of a patient; (2) moderate clinical significance: only impact on plan for follow-up; and (3) major clinical significance: result in the CXR film directly affects immediate management. We then evaluated each chart for historical or examination findings that might identify criteria associated with positive radiographic findings to propose a set of criteria that could lead to the development of a decision rule that allows a reduced utilization while having a high sensitivity for clinically significant positive findings on CXR film. RESULTS: Of the 400 pediatric patients reviewed, 63.5% (n = 254) received a CXR in the emergency department (ED). Of those receiving a CXR, only 8.26% (n = 21) had a finding that affected either ED management or follow-up planning. The criteria that would have identified all patients with positive results in the CXR films were abnormal vital signs, shortness of breath, palpitations, presence of comorbidities, abnormal or unilateral breath sounds, history of trauma, murmur, or cough. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study demonstrates the potential for a decision rule to eliminate both cost and radiation exposure by using defined criteria to determine the need for a CXR in pediatric ED patients. We identified 8 simple criteria that would have identified all children who benefited from a CXR in this study. The next phase of this study will prospectively evaluate the utility of each of the criteria as part of a draft decision rule.