title: Use of clinical pictures in the management of nausea and vomiting: a prospective audit.
abstract: This prospective audit aimed to evaluate a guideline for the management of nausea and vomiting in palliative care inpatients. Clinical pictures were used to guide diagnosis and treatment, with potentially reversible causes being addressed where appropriate. Over a 3-month period, 40 patient episodes occurred, all of which were included in the audit. The commonest clinical pictures were gastric stasis/outlet obstruction (35%) and chemical/metabolic (30%). Management according to the guideline was effective. Nausea was abolished in 28 of 34 cases (82%) and vomiting resolved completely in 26 of 31 cases (84%). Symptoms were totally controlled in a mean time of 3.4 days. Nausea and vomiting, although distressing symptoms, can be controlled in the majority of cases. Multi-centre prospective audit, using a standardized tool, may prove useful in allowing larger numbers of patients to be systematically analysed and individual centres to compare outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Marie Curie Centre, Fairmile, Frogston Road West, Edinburgh EH10 7DR, UK.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bentley
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boyd
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000932:Antiemetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D008875:Middle Aged; D009325:Nausea / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000592:standards; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014839:Vomiting / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D000932:Antiemetics