RESUMEN
To investigate the number and characteristics of patients attending the Accident/Emergency [A/E] Department of a tertiary care hospital in Riyadh, and to determine their route of referral, and pattern of ocular emergency cases. A retrospective study was carried out using the records and history of all patients attending the A/E at King Abdulaziz University Hospital [KAUH] in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in July 2010. Data collected included time of arrival, age, gender, source of referral, principal diagnosis, attending doctor, action taken, and discharge plan. A total of 1,412 patients were recruited in our study with an average daily attendance of 47 patients. A total of 863 [61%] patients were male, and their mean age was 28.2 years. The most frequent diagnosis in patients was trauma [382, 27%], followed by conjunctivitis [211, 14.9%], lids and lacrimal system [133, 9.4%], retina problems [51, 3.6%], glaucoma [30, 2.1%], neuro-ophthalmology [22, 1.6%], keratitis [20, 1.4%], uveitis [10, 0.7%], and episcleritis [5, 0.35%]. Most cases [77.5%] seen were self-referrals. Additionally, 712 [50.4%] of cases were considered as non-emergency, which are visiting the A/E for dry eye, chalazion, blepharitis, and allergy. Most cases seen at our ophthalmic A/E had non-urgent conditions that could be managed satisfactorily by trained ophthalmic assistants under supervision of an ophthalmologist