Abdominal Pain Management and Point-of-care Ultrasound in the Emergency Department

Abdominal Pain Management and Point-of-care Ultrasound in the Emergency Department: a Randomized, Prospective, Controlled Study

Background: Abdominal pain is one of the most common reasons for admission to the emergency department (ED). This study aimed to investigate the effect of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) performed during the initial evaluation phase of patients who presented to the ED with abdominal pain on diagnostic processes, length of stay (LOS) in ED, and hospitalization and healthcare costs.

Methodology: This prospective, randomized, controlled, parallel group study was conducted with patients who presented to the Sakarya Education Research Hospital ED with abdominal pain from October 2019 to March 2020. Patients were divided randomly into two groups: control group where standard diagnostic strategies were applied and the POCUS group where POCUS was performed together with standard diagnostic strategies. All data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 21.

Inclusion Criteria:

• age >18 years
• Patients who presented to the ED with abdominal pain
• Nontraumatic patients

Exclusion Criteria:

• permanent mental disability,
• age <18 years,
• abdominal trauma within the last 24 hours,
• pregnancy, morbid obesity, repeated admissions,
• referral from an external center to the ED,
• missing patient information.