2001 OPEN FORUM Abstracts
Analysis of the Times of Visit to the ED of CHF Patients with SOB as the Chief Complaint
Andrea A. Adedusan,BS, CRT; Lisa M. Hicks, BS, CRT; David C. Shelledy, PhD, RRT. THe Universityof Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Background: Inpatients with chronic congestive heart failure (CHF), shortness of breath (SOB)is a common symptom. We sought to determine what times of the day CHF patientsvisited the emergency department (ED) the most within a time frame of 24 months.
Method: Following an InstituiionalReview Board approved protocol, we performed a restrospective analysis of recordsof 222 CHF patients who presented to the ED of a492 bed University affiliatedhospital, for a period of 24 consecutive monts. Specific records were evaluatedto determine the time of presentation to the ED with SOB as a chief complaint.Al CHF patients thtat visited the ED for SOB were analyzed with no age/genderlimit to the data analyzed, men and women with age ranges from 29-90 years oldwere in teh data analysis.
Results: Table 1 displaysthe number of CHF patients versus the time of day of admissions to the ED foreach 24 hour period during the 24 month sample of records.
| Admit Time | # of Patients | Shift |
| 07:00 – 07:59 | 11 | 1 st |
| 08:00 – 08:59 | 3 | |
| 09:00 – 09:59 | 8 | |
| 10:00 – 10:59 | 11 | |
| 11:00 – 11:59 | 14 | |
| 12:00 –12:59 | 20 | |
| 13:00 – 13:59 | 7 | |
| 14:00 – 14:59 | 12 | |
| 15:00 – 15:59 | 15 | 2nd |
| 16:00 – 16:59 | 10 | |
| 17:00 – 17:59 | 8 | |
| 18:00 – 18:59 | 16 | |
| 19:00 – 19:59 | 9 | |
| 20:00 – 20:59 | 10 | |
| 21:00 – 21:59 | 5 | |
| 22:00 – 22:59 | 8 | |
| 23:00 – 23:59 | 10 | 3rd |
| 00:00 – 00:59 | 5 | |
| 01:00 – 01:59 | 8 | |
| 02:00 – 02:59 | 9 | |
| 03:00 – 03:59 | 8 | |
| 04:00 – 04:59 | 5 | |
| 05:00 – 05:59 | 3 | |
| 06:00 – 06:59 | 7 |
Conclusion: Thedata suggests that there is an increase in ED visits by CHF patients with SOBbetween the 11:00 and 18:00 hours. There is a relatively low ED visits at thehours of sleep between 2100 and 0500 hours. Our data suggest, that nocturnaldyspnea may not be the primary reason why CHF patients visit the ED. We concludefrom our sample thta there were more CHF patient visits to the ED due to SOBbetween 1100 and 1800 hours.