title: Towards evidence-based emergency medicine: best BETs from the Manchester Royal Infirmary. BET 1: Impact of point-of-care ultrasound on length of stay for paediatric appendicitis.
abstract: A short cut review was carried out to establish whether point-of-care abdominal ultrasound could affect the emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) of children attending with suspected appendicitis. Using the reported searches, one paper presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of this best paper are tabulated. It is concluded that point-of-care abdominal ultrasound has sufficient specificity to be used to reduce LOS of paediatric patients in the ED with positive results for appendicitis. It is insufficiently sensitive to be used to rule out appendicitis.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medicine Residency Program Laval, University, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Élizabeth
authors.initials: É
authors.lastname: Lalande
authors.affiliation: Centre Universitaire de L'université Laval (CHUL), CHU de Quebec.
authors.forename: Marc-Charles
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Parent
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D002648:Child; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D055416:Evidence-Based Emergency Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D014463:Ultrasonography