The appropriateness of A&E attendances: a prospective study.
This prospective study was undertaken to establish the extent and source of appropriateness of attendances at the Accident & Emergency Department of University College Hospital Galway. All new attendees to the department within a two week period were surveyed and differences were observed between the sources of referral. Analysis of the results showed that general practitioner referrals were older, had a longer duration of complaint and required more investigations than self referred patients. Of requested admissions by general practitioners 82.7% were finally admitted. Self referred patients had a shorter duration of complaint, were more likely to present with fractures, dislocation or soft tissue injuries and less likely to require admission (9.8%). Within this region approximately 10% of attendances were inappropriate and were distributed equally between general practitioner and self referrals. This study found that reassessment by A&E staff of requested admissions is not beneficial. The level of abuse is low. There is no more abuse of A&E by patients who attend A&E without seeing their General Practitioner than by those who have.
Accident & Emergency Department, University College Hospital, Galway.
M O
MO
Dunne
A J
AJ
Martin
D000059:Accidents; D004630:Emergencies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification* / Q000628:therapy