To assess the impact on clinical practice of implementing the Ottawa ankle rules.
Design: Nonrandomized, controlled trial with before-after and concurrent controls.
Setting: Emergency departments of a university (intervention) hospital and a community (control) hospital.
Patients: All 2342 adults seen with acute ankle injuries during 5-month periods before and after the intervention.
Intervention: The implementation of the Ottawa ankle rules by emergency department physicians.
Main Outcome Measures: Proportions of patients referred for standard ankle and foot radiographic series.
Implementation of the Ottawa ankle rules led to a decrease in use of ankle radiography, waiting times, and costs without patient dissatisfaction or missed fractures. Future studies should address the generalizability of these decision rules in a variety of hospital settings.
Copyright remains with the authors and publisher.
To assess the impact on clinical practice of implementing the Ottawa ankle rules.
Design: Nonrandomized, controlled trial with before-after and concurrent controls.
Setting: Emergency departments of a university (intervention) hospital and a community (control) hospital.
Patients: All 2342 adults seen with acute ankle injuries during 5-month periods before and after the intervention.
Intervention: The implementation of the Ottawa ankle rules by emergency department physicians.
Main Outcome Measures: Proportions of patients referred for standard ankle and foot radiographic series.
Implementation of the Ottawa ankle rules led to a decrease in use of ankle radiography, waiting times, and costs without patient dissatisfaction or missed fractures. Future studies should address the generalizability of these decision rules in a variety of hospital settings.
Copyright remains with the authors and publisher.