Article ID: JJMU.R.265
In recent years, physiological examinations such as ultrasonography, as well as specimen tests, are increasingly performed by non-doctors in medical facilities, and more examinations are being performed outside of laboratories. In the laboratory, there is an “emergency response system” widely known clinically as “panic values”. The list of panic values and their communication system are created and established through discussions between the medical and laboratory sides. When an ultrasound finding is judged to be urgent, diagnosis and treatment must be performed promptly. When a patient is diagnosed with an urgent disease based on ultrasound findings, treatment commensurate with the urgency and severity of the diagnosed disease is required. It should be noted that the functions of doctors and non-doctors such as laboratory technicians and nurses (hereinafter referred to as medical staff) are different. While doctors can diagnose and treat a patient immediately based on findings, medical staff can recognize/report images and findings and request confirmation, but they cannot diagnose or treat a patient. However, if candidates for images/findings that should be considered for serious conditions/diseases requiring attention are clearly indicated in advance, medical staff can recognize “candidate images/findings requiring attention” and promptly report and request confirmation from a doctor. The level of urgency varies depending on the severity of the disease, and two levels of urgency, i.e., “urgent” and “semi-urgent,” plus “early” have been proposed. It is necessary to establish an “emergency reporting system” for each facility, and it is expected that the system will be examined (modified, expanded, etc.) and verified according to the actual situation at each site, and that it will be widely used and be useful in clinical practice. In order to ensure that the “Critical/Panic Findings System” is widely used in clinical practice, it is also essential that the “Critical/Panic Findings System” be well known to medical staff and doctors in the field.
