Registry of Patients With Acute Dyspnea in the Emergency Department

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This is a prospective registry of patients presenting with acute dyspnea to the emergency department of the city hospital in Nuremberg. There is evidence that acute dyspnea is associated with a mortality rate of 10%, however acute dyspnea is not perceived as a life-threatening condition, both in public and in health care providers. Our aim is to describe the patient collective concerning their demographics, baseline characteristics, type of referral and disposition, medical care processes and prognosis. Secondly, we want to evaluate if the subjective risk assessment of emergency department personnel matches with objective risk stratification tools and the actual outcome of the studied patients.

Detailed Description
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This is a prospective registry of patients presenting with acute dyspnea to the emergency department of the city hospital in Nuremberg during May 23th 2013 and October 31th 2013. To be included into the registry the patient has to express acute dyspnea. Minor patients are not included. The admission documents of the studied patients are accompanied by a questionnaire that has to be completed by the triage nurse and the attending physician. The questionnaire includes items like professional experience and subjective assessment of patient's prognosis. In addition the attending physician has to state if the evaluation of medical history was difficult, if previous medication is known and how likely the presence of heart failure as underlying condition is. Data of the questionnaire, the patient record and the follow up contacts are entered in a SPSS database. Finally, we measure the OPTIMIZE-HF score (Abraham et al. 2008) and the PRIDE mortality score (Baggish et al. 2007) in a retrospective manner in order to compare the subjective assessments with objective criteria.

Official Title
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Prospective Registry for Quality Assurance of Medical Care of Patients With Acute Dyspnea in the Emergency Department

Conditions
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Dyspnea, Heart Failure, COPD

Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: expression of acute dyspnea in the emergency department Exclusion Criteria: age < 18 years

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| adult patients with acute dyspnea in ED<br> | |

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| all cause mortality |  | 6 months | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| demographics and baseline characteristics | baseline characteristics as for example vital signs, medication, underlying disease condition (adjusted final diagnosis), medical history, concomitant diseases | 1 month | 
| medical care processes | type of referral, disposition patterns, diagnostic and therapeutical measures | 1 day | 
| subjective and objective risk assessment | data from the questionnaire completed by triage nurse and attending physician, OPTIMIZE-HF and PRIDE mortality score | 1 month | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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mortality, dyspnea, registry, baseline characteristics, risk assessment, emergency department