Volume 47, Issue 2 , Pages 99-101, March 2009
Patterns of emergency maxillofacial referrals and provision of services
Abstract
The rising number of maxillofacial injuries in the UK requires a reappraisal of emergency services within our specialty. Although the impact of a dedicated trauma list has been reported, it has not been widely embraced, and we know of few data that help to plan the number or timing of such lists.
We designed a minimum dataset to collect information about referral, cause of emergency, assessment of patients, and outcome during 2003 and 2004. Theatre data were examined retrospectively to analyse operations during the same period.
We conclude that to serve a population of 2.6 million a minimum of 8 emergency lists are required each week to deal with non-complex cases; this equates to 3
lists/million population. The lists should be concentrated at weekends and early in the week.
Keywords: Maxillofacial surgery, Dedicated emergency lists, NCEPOD
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PII: S0266-4356(08)00202-7
doi:10.1016/j.bjoms.2008.05.008
© 2008 The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Volume 47, Issue 2 , Pages 99-101, March 2009
