Table 3.

Medical recommendations made to discharged patients, according to age and the number of fractured ribs

SPECIFIC HIGH-RISK SUBGROUP OF DISCHARGED ED PATIENTSNRECOMMENDATIONS, N (%)*
COME BACK IF THERE ARE ANY RED FLAG SYMPTOMS†GO SEE FAMILY DOCTORPLANNED ED FOLLOW-UPNO RECOMMENDATION‡§
Age
  • ≤ 64 y322111 (34.5)49 (15.2)22 (6.8)161 (50.0)
  • ≥ 65 y12531 (24.8)17 (13.6)3 (2.4)77 (61.6)
No. of rib fractures on initial ED radiographs
  • 017352 (29.7)22 (12.5)7 (7.9)98 (55.7)
  • 110939 (35.1)17 (15.3)8 (7.2)54 (48.7)
  • 28033 (40.2)14 (17.2)6 (7.3)40 (48.8)
  • 33814 (33.3)19 (21.4)4 (9.5)17 (40.3)
  • ≥ 4213 (8.8)4 (11.8)027 (79.4)

  • ED—emergency department.

  • ↵* Patients might have had more than 1 recommendation noted during review.

  • ↵† Embedded Image = 3.88, P = .048 for age stratification.

  • ↵‡ Embedded Image = 4.8, P = .027 for age stratification.

  • ↵§ Embedded Image = 14.01, P = .0070 for fractured rib stratification.