Background: The SMART Medical Clearance Form, developed in the USA, is used to standardize the medical evaluation of emergency patients with primarily psychiatric manifestations. The goal of this study was external validation of the use of this form.
Methods: Data were collected retrospectively on emergency patients with psychiatric manifestations. The combined primary clinical endpoint consisted of hospitalization, repeated presentation to the emergency room, and/or death within 30 days.
Results: From September 2019 to June 2022, 2404 patients presented with psychiatric manifestations to the emergency room of the Cantonal Hospital of Lucerne, Switzerland, of whom 674 were included in the study. 134 did not satisfy any of the parameters of the SMART Medical Clearance Form (the nSMART group), while 540 satisfied at least one parameter (the pSMART group). In the nSMART group, there were no hospitalizations for a medical indication, no repeated presentations for medical reasons, and no deaths within 30 days. In the pSMART group, there were 90 hospitalizations, 4 repeated presentations, and 4 deaths within 30 days. Although 44% of the patients in the nSMART group underwent further diagnostic studies, such as imaging or laboratory tests, none of these studies led to any change in these patients' further clinical management.
Conclusion: Use of the SMART Medical Clearance Form apparently enables safe standardized processing of patients with psychiatric manifestations in the emergency room.