Epidemiological profile of non-urgent patient visits to emergency department in a tertiary care hospital in South India

Background: Non-urgent visits to emergency department (ED) form a significant proportion of ED visits. The reasons vary from minor injuries, fever of short duration, parental anxiety, and even serious conditions like myocardial infarctions presenting atypically. Non-urgent visits stress the ED services while prolonged waiting affects the patients. The aim was to study the profile of non-urgent visits to emergency department of a tertiary care hospital in South India.Methods: Prospective and descriptive study of patients aged 15 years and above categorized as non-urgent after triage was conducted. Data such as age, gender, reason for visit, time of presentation during the day, duration of ED stay and need for referral were recorded. Quantitative variables were presented as Mean±SD and frequency with percentage for qualitative variables.Results: Non-urgent visits contributed to 47.1% of total ED visits. Reasons for non-urgent visits were fever (15.4%), vomiting (13.9%), breathlessness (7.6%), minor trauma (7.3%), giddiness (7.0%) and dysuria (5.5%). 80.8% of all non- urgent visits were seen by ED doctor within two hours of being triaged. Most patients were treated for their immediate symptoms and 64.8% needed follow-up out-patient appointments. Admission rate was 1.2%. Majority of non-urgent visits (55.7%) were daytime visits and 13% were after-hours.Conclusions: Non-urgent visits contribute to about half of all ED visits and can stress ED. A local triage guideline is necessary to run these services in ED. Extended general practice or family physician run urgent care can relieve the stress on ED while rendering to patients accessible and affordable care.

The predictive factors for hospitalization of nonurgent patients visiting an emergency department in an urban area: a single center study

OBJECTIVE: Emergency department (ED) visits by nonurgent patients are controversial because they are considered one of the causes of ED overcrowding and an example of the improper use of medical resources. On the other hand, some non-urgent patients do require hospitalization. The purpose of this study was to compare hospitalized and discharged patients who were classified as nonurgent upon their initial ED visit and identify the predictive factors associated with hospitalization in nonurgent patients visiting an ED. METHODS: Among a nonurgent patient group visiting an urban university hospital ED in 2016, the hospitalized and discharged patients were compared. RESULTS: A total of 13,988 nonurgent patients were analyzed, of which 773 (5.5%) were hospitalized. The predictive factors related to hospitalization for nonurgent patients were as follows: male, age 65 years or older, ED visits during outpatient clinic availability, and in the evening, heart rate greater than 100 per minute, respiration rate greater than 20 per minute and body temperature over 38℃ CONCLUSION: Among nonurgent patients, there are patients who require hospitalization. If these predictive factors are considered in the initial ED triage, it should improve the safe treatment of nonurgent patients and improve the efficiency of the use of limited resources.

The Clinical Differences between Urgent Visits and Non-Urgent Visits in Emergency Department During the Neonatal Period

As neonates are brought to the emergency department (ED) for various complaints, it is challenging for emergency physicians to clinically determine the urgency of the visit. We sought to explore clinical characteristics associated with urgent visits to the ED. We conducted a retrospective study by reviewing medical records of neonatal visits to a tertiary pediatric regional emergency center for 5 years. Cases of patients who were discharged after checking only chest or abdominal X-ray or discharged without workup, were classified as non-urgent visits. Cases where more examinations were performed, or when the patient was hospitalized, were classified as urgent visits. Various clinical features and process in the ED were compared between the groups. Of the 1,008 cases enrolled in this study, 856 (84.9%) were urgent and 152 (15.1%) were non-urgent visits. After adjustment by multiple logistic regression analysis, non-urgent visits were associated with self-referrals rather than physician-referrals (odds ratio [OR], 5.96), visits in the evening rather than at night or daytime (OR, 2.51), patient visits from home rather than from medical facilities (OR, 2.19; 95). Fever and jaundice were the most common complaints (25.7% and 24.5%, respectively), and their OR of non-urgent visit was relatively low (adjusted OR 0.03 and 0.03, respectively). However, other common complaints, such as vomiting and cough (7.4% and 7.1%, respectively), were more likely to be non-urgent visits (adjusted OR 2.96 and 9.83, respectively). For suspected non-urgent visits, emergency physicians need to try to reduce unnecessary workup and shorten length of stay in ED.

Analysis of cross-sectional survey for adult emergency patients in Tianjin / 中华急诊医学杂志

Objective To show epidemiological characteristics of adult emergency patients and to provide data support for grading clinics.Methods Adult emergency patients (older than 14 years) from 50 hospitals in Tianjin were included.Name,gender and age of patients,as well as visiting time/department,chief complaint,severity of the disease,prognosis were considered to cross-sectional survey from 8:00,30 Aug 2016 to8:00,31 Aug 2016.Chi-squared test,Fisher's exact test,or t test was used to statistical analysis as appropriate.Results Of 6 569 patients,most originated from medical (n =3 964,60.34％) and surgical (n =2 017,30.31％).Patients' average age was 46.90 ± 18.70 (14-99) years old and there were more patientsaged from 30 to 39 (n =1 285,19.56％).Hospital crowded periods were between 8:00-11:00 and 17:00-22:00.In these periods,average number of patients was more than 300.Concerning the severity of disease,83 patients (1.26％) were in grade 1 (the most severe cases),301 patients (4.58％) in grade 2,1 500 patients (22.83％) in grade 3,and 4 685 patients (71.33％) were in grade 4 (the less severe cases).Most ambulatory patient represented trauma (n =124,35.23％),neurological (n =68,19.32％) and cardiovascular (n =49,13.92％) diseases.However,50.57％ of them were not considered urgent.Conclusions Most patients visited emergency department were nonurgent and originated from medical and surgical department in Tianjin.Crowded periods gathered at 8:00-11:00 and 17:00-22:00.Most ambulatory patients were trauma,neurological and cardiovascular disease;however,half of them was stable and need no emergency intervention.

Understanding decisions leading to nonurgent visits to the paediatric emergency department: caregivers' perspectives

<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>A significant percentage of paediatric emergency department (ED) attendances worldwide are nonurgent, adversely affecting patient outcomes and healthcare systems. This study aimed to understand the reasons behind nonurgent ED visits, in order to develop targeted and effective preventive interventions.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In-depth interviews were conducted with 49 caregivers to identify the decision-making factors related to taking children to the ED of KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore. Interviews were carried out in the emergency room of the hospital after the children had been diagnosed with nonurgent conditions by the attending physician. Interview transcripts were analysed based on grounded theory principles.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The demographics of our study cohort were representative of the target population. The main reasons given by the caregivers for attending paediatric EDs included perceived severity of the child's symptoms, availability of after-hours care, perceived advantage of a paediatric specialist hospital and mistrust of primary care physicians' ability to manage paediatric conditions. Insurance or welfare was a contributing factor for only a small portion of caregivers.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The reasons provided by Singaporean caregivers for attending paediatric EDs were similar to those reported in studies conducted in Western countries. However, the former group had a unique understanding of the local healthcare system. The study's findings may be used to develop interventions to change the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of caregivers in Singapore.</p>

Triage of Non-urgent Ambulatory Patients by Family Medicine Resident in Emergency Room

BACKGROUND: This study was performed to evaluate the validity of triage of non-urgent ambulatory patients using Triage Tool, the Emergency Severity Index-4 by a family medicine resident in the emergency room (ER). METHODS: A total of 790 ambulatory patients who visited an urban ER between March and April 2007 were enrolled. A family medicine (FM) resident and emergency medicine (EM) residents independently evaluated the severity of patients with ESI-4, and reviewed the basic characteristics and disposition of the patients. Concurrent validity and predictive validity were measured using weighted kappa analysis and chi-square analysis. RESULTS: Concurrent validity was good. The weighted kappa value was 0.910 between an FM resident and EM residents. The hospitalization rate was 75% in catergory 2 and 19.6%, 2.5%, 0.05% in category 3 through 5, respectively. More severe category patients of ESI-4 had higher rate of hospitalization rate. CONCLUSION: Triage by a family medicine resident, using the Emergency Severity Index-4 in ambulatory patients of emergency room (ER) is a useful screening tool for non-urgent patients.