Background: Diagnostic scores have been developed as simple, user-friendly, cost-effective instruments to improve the early diagnosis of acute appendicitis.
Aim: To assess the yield of a diagnostic score for acute appendicitis, measured by trained health-related non-physician professional.
Patients and methods: A prospective, double blind, non-randomized trial. Emergency room nurses applied a previously validated diagnostic score for appendicitis to patients aged more than 15 years with abdominal pain and tachycardia or fever. The main outcome was the percentage of patients operated for acute appendicitis that had a positive score for appendicitis and a pathologically demonstrated appendicitis.
Results: The mean scores for patients operated or not operated for appendicitis were 8.64 and 3.31, respectively. The figures for sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of the score were 0.83, 0.98 and 0.94, respectively.
Conclusions: An appendicitis score measured by health-related non-physician professionals has a similar diagnostic yield than clinical judgment.