Care of Bullet-related Injuries: A Cross-sectional Study of Instructions and Prescriptions Provided on Discharge from the Emergency Department.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

There are more than 80,000 emergency department (ED) visits for non-fatal bullet-related injuries (BRI) per year in the United States. Approximately half of these patients are discharged home from the ED. Our objective in this study was to characterize the discharge instructions, prescriptions, and follow-up plans provided to patients discharged from the ED after BRI.

Methods

This was a single-center, cross-sectional study of the first 100 consecutive patients who presented to an urban, academic, Level I trauma center ED with an acute BRI beginning on January 1, 2020. We queried the electronic health record for patient demographics, insurance status, cause of injury, hospital arrival and discharge timestamps, discharge prescriptions, and documented instructions

SUBMITTER: Hayes JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10047738 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature