The role of the rural hospital emergency department.

Although rural hospital emergency departments are key components of rural health care, there is little medical literature describing their activities. This study examined the patient load of rural emergency departments in Mississippi. Each patient encounter was coded according to public health district, hospital number, patient number, age, sex, race, season, day of week, time, diagnosis, disposition, and method of payment (if available). The rural emergency departments were much busier when physician offices were closed, with the vast majority of patients being treated and sent home. Users of rural emergency departments had similar diagnoses and dispositions to users of urban emergency departments. Admitted patients tended to be older; almost one half of the patients transferred to other institutions had injuries. The findings have implications for the training of rural physicians and for policies relating to rural health care delivery.