Emergency department visits for non-urgent conditions in Iran: a cross-sectional study.
Iran
emergency department
hospitals
non-urgent visits
Journal
BMJ open
ISSN: 2044-6055
Titre abrégé: BMJ Open
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101552874
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
09 10 2019
09 10 2019
Historique:
entrez:
12
10
2019
pubmed:
12
10
2019
medline:
23
10
2020
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
To determine the percentage of non-urgent (NU) visits in an Iranian emergency department (ED), to explore why patients with NU conditions refer to EDs and also to assess the association between patients' characteristics and their visits. A cross sectional study based on face to face survey. A territorial, teaching and military hospital in Tehran province, Iran. All patients who visited the ED during the 2-week period were recruited. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire. Of 1884 patients who visited the ED, 1217 (64.6%) patients were triaged as NU while 667 (35.4%) were urgent and semiurgent visits cases. The most important reasons for NU visits were seeking prompt (36.6%) and less costly care (35.9%). We found that NU visits have increased with younger patients, during weekends and night shifts, and with patients suffering from recurrent symptoms lasting in 1 week or less. EDs are a common source of care for NU problems in Iran. The most invaluable solution is building up special clinics for providing healthcare services to NU patients during the weekends and, in the busy and night shifts. Receiving higher fees from NU patients could also be adopted with caution. Promoting awareness and knowledge of both healthcare providers and patients about the main role of EDs will contribute in improving their performance. As a long-term solution, adopting the family physician programme and ameliorating the referral system are recommended.
Identifiants
pubmed: 31601591
pii: bmjopen-2019-030927
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030927
pmc: PMC6797411
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
e030927Informations de copyright
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Competing interests: None declared.
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