Inappropriate utilization of emergency medical services at Prince Ali military hospital

ABSTRACT

To study the demographic characteristics of patients attending the emergency department and study the factors associated with inappropriate use of emergency department. A total of 4,950 patients' charts who attended the accident and emergency department of Prince Ali Military Hospital in the 1[st] [8 am- 4pm] and 2[nd] shifts [4 pm-10 pm] from the 1[st] to 31[st] of March 2008 were reviewed. A sample of 495 patients was randomly selected through systemic sampling method. A specially designed medical record abstract form was used to collect data related to inappropriate use and misuse of the emergency medical services in the hospital. Simple descriptive statistics were used to describe the relevant study variables. Out 495 patients 38 [7.7%] were admitted to different hospital wards. Of these patients 309 were males and 186 were females. Eleven [2.2%] cases were classified as life threatening cases, 58 [32%] as urgent cases and 326 [65.8%] were non urgent cases. Only 99 [20%] cases were having their complaints 24 hours prior to presentation. Large numbers of attendees were non urgent cases. To overcome this managerial problem, there is a need to utilize the primary health care/walk-in clinics served by family or general practitioners who provide primary health care services. In addition there is a need to promote public health education through community involvement