Use of sonography in diagnosing acute appendicitis: comparison of a teaching hospital and a community hospital.
OBJECTIVE
We examined patterns of use of sonography in the workup of appendicitis at two hospitals: a 715-bed university-affiliated teaching hospital and a 240-bed nonteaching hospital. In light of increasing concern over the use of health care dollars, we wanted to determine whether the use of sonography in the workup of appendicitis would be more frequent at a teaching than at a nonteaching hospital.


METHODS
We examined all cases of appendicitis seen in the emergency room of the teaching hospital in 1993 and all cases of appendicitis seen in the emergency room of the nonteaching hospital in 1992-1993. Exclusionary criteria included pregnancy, altered mental status, or multiple discharge diagnoses. The diagnosis of appendicitis was verified by pathology reports.


RESULTS
At the teaching hospital, the use of sonography was 38.5% (65 of 169); at the nonteaching hospital, sonography usage was 39.4% (61 of 155).


CONCLUSIONS
There appears to be no significant difference between teaching and nonteaching hospitals in the frequency of use of sonography in diagnosing patients with appendicitis.
Sabra
J
J
Brown University School of Medicine, Providence, RI, USA.
Roh
M
M
Páez
X
X
Cronan
J
J
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014463:Ultrasonography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*