Background: Accurate and prompt diagnosis is required for the primary evaluation of pediatric appendicitis. Among pediatricians and surgeons working in Yamanashi Prefecture, the pediatric appendicitis medical information (PAMI) sheet was edited in April 2011 to reflect the diagnostic results of the pediatric primary and emergency medical service and used as a referral document for surgical consultation to secondary hospitals.

Methods: The PAMI sheet consisted of sections for history taking, symptoms, physical signs and laboratory findings without a scoring system. For 32 consecutive months starting in April 2011, 59 patients hospitalized for suspected appendicitis were retrospectively reviewed. In particular, a total of 17 referral patients evaluated with the PAMI sheet were assessed in order to evaluate the utility of the form.

Results: The pediatric surgeons were able to easily determine patient condition from the PAMI sheet. In total, 13 of 17 patients had appendicitis. According to the physical findings of the 17 studied patients, the judgment of right lower quadrant tenderness (κ = 0.63) and guarding (κ = 1.00) was consistent between the pediatric surgeons and primary attending pediatricians.

Conclusions: The PAMI sheet aids in the collection of detailed history and objective data with a high level of accuracy, and provides useful referral diagnostic information to the secondary-level hospitals.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ped.12971DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

pami sheet
20
appendicitis medical
8
pediatric primary
8
pediatric appendicitis
8
april 2011
8
pediatric surgeons
8
sheet
6
pediatric
6
appendicitis
5
pami
5

Similar Publications

Background: Accurate and prompt diagnosis is required for the primary evaluation of pediatric appendicitis. Among pediatricians and surgeons working in Yamanashi Prefecture, the pediatric appendicitis medical information (PAMI) sheet was edited in April 2011 to reflect the diagnostic results of the pediatric primary and emergency medical service and used as a referral document for surgical consultation to secondary hospitals.

Methods: The PAMI sheet consisted of sections for history taking, symptoms, physical signs and laboratory findings without a scoring system.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!