title: The use of baseline investigations in patients admitted from an accident and emergency department.
abstract: We studied the use of four investigations on patients admitted from our Accident and Emergency Department: full blood count, urea and electrolytes, chest x-ray and electrocardiogram. We found 1) that these investigations were performed on a high proportion of patients admitted 2) that a high percentage of these investigations yielded normal results. We suggest that a greater emphasis should be placed on clinical assessment, rather than the 'routine' use of investigations.
authors.affiliation: Accident and Emergency Department, Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gilmartin
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Codd
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: O'Connor
mesh_terms: D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans