Analysis of 224 cases of acute dizziness admitted through emergency transportation to the emergency department: A questionnaire survey of resident doctors

Dizziness is the one of the major complaints encountered in medical emergency rooms, and sometimes, the cause of the dizziness may be life-threating and/or result in serious sequelae. We analyzed the data of the patients with acute dizziness who were brought by emergency transportation to out hospital. We provided clinical information about these patients to the resident doctors and conducted a questionnaire survey of the resident doctors to enquire about their general practice for cases of acute dizziness. A total 224 patients with acute dizziness patients referred to our hospital were enrolled in this study. We studied the patient's background, symptoms associated with dizziness, and diagnosis in the hospitalized cases. A questionnaire on acute dizziness care was administered before and after the lecture on acute dizziness care. Among the 224 patients transported to our hospital for acute dizziness, 93（41.5%）required hospitalization. Thirty-eight patients were hospitalized for peripheral dizziness, 29 for central dizziness, 15 for other systemic diseases, and 11 for unknown causes. The questionnaire survey of 42 resident doctors indicated that the majority were interested in acute dizziness care, but felt that they did not have sufficient knowledge on acute dizziness. We consider that appropriate diagnostic skill to differentiate among the different causes of dizziness is mandatory in acute dizziness care. We were able to share information about acute vertigo care by providing feedback from the results of this study to the resident doctors and emergency physicians.