Determining severe respiratory distress in older out-of-hospital patients.
OBJECTIVE
This preliminary investigation represents the first step in developing a clinical decision rule (CDR) to assist out-of-hospital providers in caring for older patients in respiratory distress. The specific aims of the study were: 1) to identify up to ten candidate clinical indicators of severe respiratory distress in older out-of-hospital patients and 2) to determine the feasibility of obtaining data on these indicators from out-of-hospital treatment records, and of obtaining a measure of severe respiratory distress from the emergency department (ED) medical record.


METHODS
This mixed-methods study included a qualitative component to list possible clinical indicators of severe respiratory distress, and a Delphi survey N = six experts) to reduce the comprehensive list that resulted (aim 1). The feasibility of gathering clinical indicators and a measure of severe distress was evaluated using a retrospective chart review (N = 640) of out-of-hospital and ED medical records (aim 2).


RESULTS
Nine clinical indicators were identified: level of consciousness/mentation, inability to speak in full sentences, position of the patient on arrival, decreased oxygen saturation, accessory muscle use, dyspnea, increased respiratory effort, altered respiratory rate, and retractions. There were sufficient data available on all indicators except dyspnea and retractions; a measure of severe distress was readily obtained from the ED medical record.


CONCLUSIONS
Medical record data were available on seven out-of-hospital clinical indicators and an ED measure of severe distress. Further work needs to be done to refine the operational definitions of the indicators and to standardize the way they are documented in the out-of-hospital medical record.
Shapiro
Susan E
SE
Department of Nursing, University of California at San Francisco, 94143-0210, USA. susan.sharpe@uscsfmedctr.org
Rosenfeld
Anne G
AG
Daya
Mohamud
M
Larson
Janet L
JL
McCauley
Linda A
LA
D032921:Consensus; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D003697:Delphi Technique; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit; D008875:Middle Aged; D009922:Oregon; D012128:Respiratory Distress Syndrome / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020379:Risk Adjustment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index