Browsing by Author "Dogan, Nurettin Ozgur"

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The Association Between Blood Alcohol Levels and the Severity of Head Trauma in Patients with Minor Head Trauma
(2015) Aksel, Gokhan; Ozel, Betul Akbuga; Guler, Sertac; Kavalci, Cemil; Dogan, Nurettin Ozgur; Corbacioglu, Seref Kerem
Introduction: Alcohol intake is associated with a wide variety of traumatic hazards. Although most authors accept that head injuries are frequently sustained in the state of alcohol intoxication, contributing to major post-traumatic disability and mortality, the specific effects of alcohol exposure on injury severity and subsequent outcomes remain controversial. Materials and methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study, which compared alcohol ingested and alcohol free patients presenting to the emergency department following minor head trauma according to their severity of head injury. Adult patients presenting to emergency department with minor head trauma, as defined by a GCS score of 15 and blunt trauma to the head are enrolled to the study consecutively. Patients with a blood alcohol level of >= 10mg/dL were defined as alcohol group and <10mg/dL were defined as non-alcohol group (control group). Cranial computed tomography results of two groups were compared. Results: A total number of 424 patients included in the study and 208 of them composed alcohol group and 216 non-alcohol group. There were 19 patients having (45%) positive findings in their cranial computed tomographies. 3 (0.7%) of them had clinically important intracranial injuries while 16 (3.8%) had clinically unimportant intracranial injuries. There was no statistically significant difference in two groups according to patients having intracranial injuries (p=0.273). 22 of the patients needed neurosurgical or non-neurosurgical interventions. Patients in alcohol group needed more operative interventions compared to non-alcohol group (p<0.001). Conclusion: Alcohol did not influence the severity of head trauma while it influenced the severity of whole body trauma. Although not reaching statistical significance, both patients with positive computed tomography results and patients who needed neurosurgical intervention were higher in alcohol-intoxicated patients. We believe that patients with alcohol intoxication need more elaborative evaluation than alcohol free patients in order to detect life-threatening complications in patients with mild head injury.
Effects of Fast-Track in A University Emergency Department Through The National Emergency Department Overcrowding Study
(2014) Aksel, Gokhan; Bildik, Fikret; Demircan, Ahmet; Keles, Ayfer; Kilicaslan, Isa; Guler, Sertac; Corbacioglu, Seref Kerem; Turkay, Asli; Bekgoz, Burak; Dogan, Nurettin Ozgur; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5580-3201; 25255588; GPX-5137-2022
Objective: To determine the impact of a fast track area on emergency department crowding and its efficacy for non-urgent patients. Methods: The prospective cross-sectional study was conducted in an adult emergency department of a university-affiliated hospital in Turkey from September 17 to 30, 2010. Non-urgent patients were defined as those with Canadian Triage Acuity Scale category 4/5. The fast track area was open in the emergency department for one whole week, followed by another week in which fast track area was closed. Demographic information of patients, their complaints on admission, waiting times, length of stay and revisits were recorded. Overcrowding evaluation was performed via the National Emergency Department Overcrowding Study scale. In both weeks, the results of the patients were compared and the effects of fast track on the results were analysed. Continuous variables were compared via student's t test or Mann Whitney U test. Demographic features of the groups were evaluated by chi-square test. Results: A total of 249 patients were seen during the fast track week, and 239 during the non-fast track week at the emergency department. Satisfaction level was higher in the fast track group than the non-fast track group (p<0.001). The waiting times shortened from 20 minutes to 10 minutes and length of stay shortened from 80 minutes to 42 minutes during the fast track week. Morbidity and mortality rates remained unchanged. Conclusion: Owing to fast track, overcrowding in the emergency department was lessened. It also improved effectiveness and quality measures.