Objective: This study was conducted to de-scribe the current diagnosis and treatment strate-gies of patients admitted to the emergency depart-ment and diagnosed with acute renal colic.
Material and Methods: In this study, an in-ternet-based cross-sectional survey was admin-istered to emergency medicine physicians. In addition to the participants’ demographic data, such as age and gender, years of experience in the emergency medicine department, and whether they were a specialist or resident, the survey also inquired about their choices of imaging methods, laboratory tests, analgesic medications, and intra-venous fluids, and tendency to refer patients to a urologist for a consultation.
Results: The median age of the 108 volunteers participating in the study was calculated as 31 (27 - 34.8) years and their years of experience as 4 (2-8) years. More than half (60.2%, n=65) of the participants were emergency medicine residents, while the remaining 39.8% (n=43) were emergen-cy medicine specialists. The emergency medicine specialists and residents were compared in terms of the variables related to their approaches to pa-tients presenting to the emergency department with a preliminary diagnosis of renal colic. The first choice of analgesic drugs was dichotomised as diclofenac and other non-steroidal anti-inflamma-tory drugs, with 34 (79.1%) of the specialists and 60 (92.3%) of the residents reporting diclofenac as their first choice, and there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups.
Conclusion: In this study, the emergency medicine residents preferred diclofenac more than the emergency medicine specialists in primary care, although they had similar renal colic imaging methods preferences.
Keywords: Acute renal colic, emergency medicine, kidney stone.
ABSTRACT
Objective: This study was conducted to de-scribe the current diagnosis and treatment strate-gies of patients admitted to the emergency depart-ment and diagnosed with acute renal colic.
Material and Methods: In this study, an in-ternet-based cross-sectional survey was admin-istered to emergency medicine physicians. In addition to the participants’ demographic data, such as age and gender, years of experience in the emergency medicine department, and whether they were a specialist or resident, the survey also inquired about their choices of imaging methods, laboratory tests, analgesic medications, and intra-venous fluids, and tendency to refer patients to a urologist for a consultation.
Results: The median age of the 108 volunteers participating in the study was calculated as 31 (27 - 34.8) years and their years of experience as 4 (2-8) years. More than half (60.2%, n=65) of the participants were emergency medicine residents, while the remaining 39.8% (n=43) were emergen-cy medicine specialists. The emergency medicine specialists and residents were compared in terms of the variables related to their approaches to pa-tients presenting to the emergency department with a preliminary diagnosis of renal colic. The first choice of analgesic drugs was dichotomised as diclofenac and other non-steroidal anti-inflamma-tory drugs, with 34 (79.1%) of the specialists and 60 (92.3%) of the residents reporting diclofenac as their first choice, and there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups.
Conclusion: In this study, the emergency medicine residents preferred diclofenac more than the emergency medicine specialists in primary care, although they had similar renal colic imaging methods preferences.
Keywords: Acute renal colic, emergency medicine, kidney stone.