Trends and characteristics of attendance at the emergency department of a Swiss university hospital: 2002-2012.


Autoria(s): Shaha, Maya; Gmür, Selina; Schoenenberger, Andreas; Gerber, Fabienne; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis
Data(s)

21/05/2015

Resumo

BACKGROUND The numbers of people attending emergency departments (EDs) at hospitals are increasing. We aimed to analyse trends in ED attendance at a Swiss university hospital between 2002 and 2012, focussing on age-related differences and hospital admission criteria. METHODS We used hospital administrative data for all patients aged ≥16 years who attended the ED (n=298,306) at this university hospital between 1 January 2002, and 31 December 2012. We descriptively analysed the numbers of ED visits according to the admission year and stratified by age (≥65 vs <65 years). RESULTS People attending the ED were on average 46.6 years old (standard deviation 20 years, maximum range 16‒99 years). The annual number of ED attendances grew by n=6,639 (27.6%) from 24,080 in 2002 to 30,719 in 2012. In the subgroup of patients aged ≥65 the relative increase was 42.3%, which is significantly higher (Pearson's χ2=350.046, df=10; p=0.000) than the relative increase of 23.4% among patients<65 years. The subgroup of patients≥65 years attended the ED more often because of diseases (n=56,307; 85%) than accidents (n=9,844; 14.9%). This subgroup (patients≥65 years) was also more often admitted to hospital (Pearson's χ2=23,377.190; df=1; p=0.000) than patients<65 years. CONCLUSIONS ED attendance of patients≥65 years increased in absolute and relative terms. The study findings suggest that staff of this ED may want to assess the needs of patients≥65 years and, if necessary, adjust the services (e.g., adapted triage scales, adapted geriatric screenings, and adapted hospital admission criteria).

Formato

application/pdf

Identificador

http://boris.unibe.ch/77262/1/smw-2015-14141.pdf

Shaha, Maya; Gmür, Selina; Schoenenberger, Andreas; Gerber, Fabienne; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis (2015). Trends and characteristics of attendance at the emergency department of a Swiss university hospital: 2002-2012. Swiss medical weekly, 145(w14141), w14141. EMH Schweizerischer Ärzteverlag 10.4414/smw.2015.14141 <http://dx.doi.org/10.4414/smw.2015.14141>

doi:10.7892/boris.77262

info:doi:10.4414/smw.2015.14141

info:pmid:25996594

urn:issn:1424-7860

Idioma(s)

eng

Publicador

EMH Schweizerischer Ärzteverlag

Relação

http://boris.unibe.ch/77262/

Direitos

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Fonte

Shaha, Maya; Gmür, Selina; Schoenenberger, Andreas; Gerber, Fabienne; Exadaktylos, Aristomenis (2015). Trends and characteristics of attendance at the emergency department of a Swiss university hospital: 2002-2012. Swiss medical weekly, 145(w14141), w14141. EMH Schweizerischer Ärzteverlag 10.4414/smw.2015.14141 <http://dx.doi.org/10.4414/smw.2015.14141>

Palavras-Chave #610 Medicine & health
Tipo

info:eu-repo/semantics/article

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

PeerReviewed