Chief Complaints and Related Features of Elderly Patients Presenting to One Region Wide Emergency Medical Center With Medical Problems
Journal of the Korean Geriatrics Society
; : 118-125, 2013.
Article
in Korean
| WPRIM (Western Pacific)
| ID: wpr-166888
Responsible library:
WPRO
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
This research is to determine the chief complaints and related features of elderly patients who are presented to emergency department with medical problems.METHODS:
Medical records of patients, 65 years or above, who visited Uijeongbu Hospital Emergency Center between January 1, 2012 and June 30, 2012 were reviewed retrospectively. Age, gender, mode of transportation to the hospital, chief complaints, and diagnosis were among the subjects analyzed.RESULTS:
Elderly patients with medical problems, 3,468 visited the emergency department, constituting 12.66% from 27,396 patients in total during the research period. Patients aged 70 to 74 were 28.45%, composing the most among the age groups. Ambulance was the mode of transportation used by 43.06% of the patients and 42.96% of them stayed overnight, while 11.13% stayed in the intensive care units. The most frequent chief complaints were abdominal pain (16.81%), dyspnea (13.96%), and fever (11.16%). The most common diagnosis for patients with abdominal pain was gastritis (20.75%), chronic heart failure (26.03%) for dyspnea, and pneumonia (28.96%) for fever. The main diagnoses of in-patients according to the order of frequency were cerebral vascular accident (16.38%), pneumonia (12.48%), and chronic heart failure (6.04%).CONCLUSION:
The number of elderly patients who stayed overnight and stayed in the intensive care units have increased comparing to younger patients. The top 10 most frequent chief complaints accounted for 78.92% by medical elderly patients. The results of this research could be used for the development of geriatric emergency medicine training programs and critical pathway for interns and residents.
Full text:
Available
Health context:
SDG3 - Target 3.8 Achieve universal access to health
Health problem:
Delivery Arrangements
Database:
WPRIM (Western Pacific)
Main subject:
Pneumonia
/
Transportation
/
Abdominal Pain
/
Medical Records
/
Retrospective Studies
/
Ambulances
/
Critical Pathways
/
Dyspnea
/
Emergencies
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Emergency Medicine
Type of study:
Practice guideline
/
Observational study
Limits:
Aged
/
Humans
Language:
Korean
Journal:
Journal of the Korean Geriatrics Society
Year:
2013
Document type:
Article