Table 3.
Proportions (%) of patients with the most frequent symptom codes for dispatching among the patients with and without each secondary outcome. I.e. 39.3% of patients requiring PICU admission and 27.3% of patients not requiring PICU admission had “Dyspnea” as symptom code. Comparisons between the proportions with and without were made using Fisher’s test
| “Urgent dispatch before symptom specific code known” | “Dyspnea” | “Fall low energy” | “Choking” | “Seizure” | “Slow deterioration of medical state” | “Allergic reaction” | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of all (N = 28) patients with PICU admissions | 21.4% | 39.3% | 0.0% | 6% | 7.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| % of all (N = 1682) patients without PICU admission | 5.0% | 27.3% | 19.0% | 8.6% | 6.8% | 6.9% | 4.2% |
| P < 0.01 | P = 0.02 | P = 0.01 | P = 0.51 | P = 0.72 | P = 0.25 | P = 0.63 | |
| % of all (N = 91) patients with medical state other than good upon arrival at ED | 8% | 42.9% | 4.4% | 1.1% | 15.4% | 2.2% | 4.4% |
| % of all (N = 1619) patients with medical state good upon arrival at ED or ED care not required | 5.1% | 26.7% | 19.6% | 8.8% | 6.4% | 7.1% | 4.1% |
| P = 0.14 | P < 0.01 | P < 0.01 | P < 0.01 | P < 0.01 | P = 0.08 | P = 0.79 | |
| % of all (N = 386) patients with any medication or respiratory support given at ED | 7.0% | 38.3% | 6.2% | 1.3% | 13.2% | 7.0% | 7.5% |
| % of all (N = 1324) patients without any medication or respiratory support given at ED | 4.8% | 24.3% | 22.4% | 10.6% | 5.0% | 6.8% | 3.2% |
| P = 0.09 | P < 0.01 | P < 0.01 | P < 0.01 | P < 0.01 | P = 0.91 | P < 0.01 | |
| % of all (N = 336) patients with hospitalizationa | 11.6% | 36.3% | 6.8% | 3.3% | 14.0% | 3.6% | 2.4% |
| % of all (N = 1363) patients without hospitalizationa | 3.7% | 25.3% | 21.6% | 9.8% | 5.1% | 7.6% | 4.6% |
| P < 0.01 | P < 0.01 | P < 0.01 | P < 0.01 | P < 0.01 | P = 0.01 | P = 0.07 | |
|
% of all (N = 18) patients with surgical proceduresb during the same visita |
5.6% | 5.6% | 0.0% | 38.9% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
|
% of all (N = 1692) patients without surgical proceduresb during the same visita |
5.3% | 27.7% | 18.9% | 8.1% | 6.9% | 6.9% | 4.2% |
| P = 1.00 | P = 0.03 | P = 0.03 | P < 0.01 | P = 0.63 | P = 0.63 | P = 1.00 |
ED Emergency department, PICU Pediatric intensive care unit, EMS Emergency medical services
a During the same hospital visit beginning within 72 h after the initial EMS contact
b Excluding minor procedures performed at the ED, e.g. insertion of a nasogastric tube