About 14 percent of ED patients have a CT scan

In 1996, about 3 percent of patients in the emergency department had a CT scan; by 2007, about 14 percent did, according to this study of national trend data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.  The authors found that the increasing utilization of CT scans for ED patients was associated with a corresponding decrease in hospital admissions after the ED visit — although this trend plateaued in the later years examined. 

Source: Kocher, K.E., and others.  National trends in use of computed tomography in the emergency department.  Annals of Emergency Medicine [prepublication copy].  Click here for full text: http://www.annemergmed.com/webfiles/images/journals/ymem/aem999085730p.pdf  Posted by AHA Resource Center, (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org