This project, EDCO-D, aims to find out if delays and errors in diagnosing CO poisoning are a frequent issue in emergency departments (EDs).
Key assumptions:
- Many cases of CO poisoning could be missed because symptoms overlap with other conditions.
- In some cases, patients are discharged home without a diagnosis, increasing their risk of re-exposure to CO.
- There is a lack of awareness among healthcare providers about recognising CO poisoning.
This project’s goal is therefore to investigate how often diagnostic delays or errors happen in EDs in UK and in the broader European context. They will collect data from multiple hospitals’ EDs to understand how often CO poisoning is missed or diagnosed late.
The study will use a network of clinicians and researchers working in EDs across the UK, and more widely in Europe, to look at hospital records of patients who have attended the ED between January 2021 and December 2024 to see if any have raised COHb levels. They will look at the clinical details of these patients to ascertain if any may have been exposed to CO and if this was documented by doctors or nurses. This will be the first European study in this area and will give as an understanding of the ‘missed’ rates for CO poisoning in European EDs. They expect that this new understanding on how the diagnosis of CO poisoning in ED can be missed or delayed will lead to further projects aiming to improve awareness among doctors and nurses about the dangers of CO exposure, with fewer cases of missed or delayed diagnoses and reduced long-term health problems for patients.
