A preliminary epidemiological study of the patient population visiting an urban ED in the Republic of China.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of the patient population of an urban emergency department (ED) in The People's Republic of China. A prospective observational study was conducted at a university-affiliated hospital adult ED medical unit and included all patients visiting the medical unit of the ED during a 2-week period. A data collection log was designed and placed in the ED. Data were recorded by the attending ED physician for all patients presenting during the study period. There were 569 patients recorded in the 2-week period. The major presenting complaints were fever (20.9%), abdominal pain (20.1%), and chest pain (11.4%). The most common diagnosis were upper respiratory tract infection (11.6%), angina pectoris (6.3%), and acute gastritis (4.9%). Eight percent of the patients were admitted, 29.0% were held in an observation unit, and 0.6% died. The average length of stay in the ED observation unit was 5.6 days. These data offer emergency physicians a preliminary understanding of the clinic presentations and diagnoses of patients seen in a university-affiliated urban hospital ED in China. The number and length of time patients were held in observation unit point out the shortage of in-hospital beds. This study is useful for describing and understanding characteristics of the patient encounter and for improving the delivery of emergency care in China.