Utilization of emergency trolley in patient ward: Is not always for emergency reason

Abstract

Objective

To review emergency trolley utilization in the general ward.

Method

We evaluate the utilization (reason and drug users) in eight emergency trolleys in a private hospital. Based on daily emergency trolley records, we manually search the related patient medical records to identify the reason for using emergency trolleys.

Results

There were 361 identified reasons for the use of trolleys in the inpatient unit, and not all were for emergency conditions (70.64%), and 9.97% could not be explained. The most common emergency condition was cardiac arrest, while non-emergency reason was shock maintenance treatment. There were situations that the trolley was opening without the use of the drug or not recorded. The drug most often used for emergency conditions was epinephrine, while for non-emergency conditions was norepinephrine.

Conclusion

The use of emergency trolleys in the inpatient unit was not always for emergency purposes that need more explicit regulation.