BACKGROUND: The number of patients in emergency departments has risen steadily in recent years, with a particular increase in patients not requiring urgent treatment. The aim of this study is to characterize this group of patients with respect to their sociodemographic features, health status, and reasons for attending an emergency department. METHODS: PiNo Nord is a cross-sectional observational study representing two full working weeks in five different hospitals. Patients were questioned in personal interviews, and medical diagnoses were documented. The data were analyzed with multivariate logistic regressions in mixed multilevel models. Predictors for the subjectively perceived treatment urgency were identified by stepwise backward selection. RESULTS: The 1175 patients questioned had an average age of 41.8 years and 52.9% were male. 54.7% said the degree of their treatment urgency was low. 41.3% had visited the emergency department on their own initiative, 17.0% on the advice or referral of their primary care physician, and 8.0% on the advice or referral of a specialist. The strongest predictors for low subjective treatment urgency were musculoskeletal trauma (odds ratio [OR] 2.18), skin conditions (OR 2.15), and the momentary unavailability of a primary care physician (OR 1.70). CONCLUSION: More than half of the patients do not think their condition requires urgent treatment and thus do not meet the definition of a medical emergency. Patients' reasons for visiting the emergency department are varied; aside from the treatment urgency of the health condition itself, the reason may lie in perceived structural circumstances and individual preferences.
BACKGROUND: The number of patients in emergency departments has risen steadily in recent years, with a particular increase in patients not requiring urgent treatment. The aim of this study is to characterize this group of patients with respect to their sociodemographic features, health status, and reasons for attending an emergency department. METHODS: PiNo Nord is a cross-sectional observational study representing two full working weeks in five different hospitals. Patients were questioned in personal interviews, and medical diagnoses were documented. The data were analyzed with multivariate logistic regressions in mixed multilevel models. Predictors for the subjectively perceived treatment urgency were identified by stepwise backward selection. RESULTS: The 1175 patients questioned had an average age of 41.8 years and 52.9% were male. 54.7% said the degree of their treatment urgency was low. 41.3% had visited the emergency department on their own initiative, 17.0% on the advice or referral of their primary care physician, and 8.0% on the advice or referral of a specialist. The strongest predictors for low subjective treatment urgency were musculoskeletal trauma (odds ratio [OR] 2.18), skin conditions (OR 2.15), and the momentary unavailability of a primary care physician (OR 1.70). CONCLUSION: More than half of the patients do not think their condition requires urgent treatment and thus do not meet the definition of a medical emergency. Patients' reasons for visiting the emergency department are varied; aside from the treatment urgency of the health condition itself, the reason may lie in perceived structural circumstances and individual preferences.
Authors: Jesse M Pines; Joshua A Hilton; Ellen J Weber; Annechien J Alkemade; Hasan Al Shabanah; Philip D Anderson; Michael Bernhard; Alessio Bertini; André Gries; Santiago Ferrandiz; Vijaya Arun Kumar; Veli-Pekka Harjola; Barbara Hogan; Bo Madsen; Suzanne Mason; Gunnar Ohlén; Timothy Rainer; Niels Rathlev; Eric Revue; Drew Richardson; Mehdi Sattarian; Michael J Schull Journal: Acad Emerg Med Date: 2011-12 Impact factor: 3.451
Authors: Steven L Bernstein; Dominik Aronsky; Reena Duseja; Stephen Epstein; Dan Handel; Ula Hwang; Melissa McCarthy; K John McConnell; Jesse M Pines; Niels Rathlev; Robert Schafermeyer; Frank Zwemer; Michael Schull; Brent R Asplin Journal: Acad Emerg Med Date: 2008-11-08 Impact factor: 3.451
Authors: Anne-Claire Durand; Sylvie Palazzolo; Nicolas Tanti-Hardouin; Patrick Gerbeaux; Roland Sambuc; Stéphanie Gentile Journal: BMC Res Notes Date: 2012-09-25
Authors: Martina Schmiedhofer; Martin Möckel; Anna Slagman; Johann Frick; Stephan Ruhla; Julia Searle Journal: BMJ Open Date: 2016-11-16 Impact factor: 2.692