Conclusion
The ”Pack and Home” criteria can successfully identify patients who are
suited for an outpatient management pathway. This could reduce surgical
inpatient load and the way we manage epistaxis.
Five key points
- The “Pack and Home” criteria was developed by our local hospital
trust to manage epistaxis on an outpatient basis
- Prior to the pandemic all epistaxis cases were admitted as inpatients,
whereas the newly implemented criteria resulted in the avoidance of 21
admissions over 6 months
- Only two patients on the “Pack and Home” pathway re-presented with
bleeding within 48 hours.
- The new criteria lead to an overall reduction in length of hospital
stay for patients presenting with epistaxis
- We recommend continuing outpatient management pathway of epistaxis
under the circumstances that clinicians are fully aware of which
patients meet the criteria, patients are counselled appropriately and
to be see in clinic within 48 hours of discharge