Subsequent to the implementation of a severity marker stamp in case notes, an audit was performed in 86 admissions with acute asthma to a specialist centre over a 12 month period. Compared to previous audit the documentation of severity markers was significantly better (PEFR: 52% vs 83%p=0.001, Respiratory rate: 44% vs 81%p=0.001, ABG: 72% vs 80%p=0.04, air entry: 58% vs 86%p=0.001, speech: 27% vs 86%p=0.001, exhaustion: 4% vs 86%p=0.001). In contrast to the previous audit where no patient received Fi02 >0.35, 66% of the cases in the repeat audit received Fi02 0.60 (p=0.001).
The mean duration of admission was five days and showed highest partial correlation (r=0.6) to the time in hours for the pulse to fall to 80/min. Multiple linear regression showed that this was the only variable best predicting the duration of admission (R2=0.3). Admission pulse rate (p=0.04) andserum K+(p=0.04) best discriminated between patients admitted for over and under five days. Logistic regression identified only the admission pulse as significant in calculating the odds of the patient staying in the hospital for >5 days.
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