[Record of neurological emergencies at a tertiary care hospital].
OBJECTIVE
There is a progressive increase in the demand for multidisciplinary attention from the Emergency Medical Services. The objective of this study was to determine the proportion of neurological conditions in the total hospital emergency workload, their demographic composition and medical needs.


METHODS
We present an observational study of a cohort of histories of neurological emergencies at a tertiary hospital during a period of one year.


RESULTS
On analysis of all emergencies, 1,592 were neurological conditions. The duty neurologist was consulted in 87.9% of the cases. The average age was 59, and the majority were women (56.3%). Maximum demand was between 14.00 and 19.59 hours. Monday was the day of the week when most were seen. The commonest causes of consultation were change in strength or language, headache and epileptic crises. The complementary investigation done most frequently was a blood test. Cerebral CT scan were done in 31.9% of the patients. The diagnoses most often made, as a group, were cerebrovascular disease followed by epilepsy and headache. The majority of the patients were referred to Primary Care Centres or for neurological consultation. When the patients were grouped according to the specialties with doctors on duty, the second largest group were seen by the emergency neurologist at our hospital.


CONCLUSIONS
In view of the above results, we consider the presence of a neurologist in the Emergency Department to be fully justified.
Figuerola
A
A
Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Universitario de la Princesa, Madrid, España.
Vivancos
J
J
Monforte
C
C
Segura
T
T
León
T
T
Ramos
L F
LF
Carreras
M T
MT
Botia
E
E
Isasia
T
T
López-López
F
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003953:Diagnosis-Related Groups; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004630:Emergencies / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology
Registro de urgencias neurológicas en un hospital de tercer nivel.