Patterns of emergency maxillofacial referrals and provision of services.
The rising number of maxillofacial injuries in the UK requires a reappraisal of emergency services within our specialty. Although the impact of a dedicated trauma list has been reported, it has not been widely embraced, and we know of few data that help to plan the number or timing of such lists. We designed a minimum dataset to collect information about referral, cause of emergency, assessment of patients, and outcome during 2003 and 2004. Theatre data were examined retrospectively to analyse operations during the same period. We conclude that to serve a population of 2.6 million a minimum of 8 emergency lists are required each week to deal with non-complex cases; this equates to 3 lists/million population. The lists should be concentrated at weekends and early in the week.
Laverick
S
S
Regional Maxillofacial Unit, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, United Kingdom. slaverick@nhs.net
Siddappa
P
P
Jones
D C
DC
D054869:Clinical Audit; D004630:Emergencies / Q000453:epidemiology; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D006285:Health Planning; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008337:Mandibular Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology; D008446:Maxillofacial Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015051:Zygomatic Fractures / Q000453:epidemiology