title: Emergency department patients who leave the department without being seen by a doctor.
abstract: When waiting times in accident and emergency (A&E) departments become too long, some patients leave the department before seeing a doctor. This study was designed to investigate the characteristics and outcome of this group of patients in one A&E department. We identified all patients who left the department without seeing a doctor on 12 randomly selected days in October and November 1997. These patients were contacted by post and non-responders followed up by telephone. During the study period 3097 patients registered for treatment, and of these 102 (3.26%) left before being seen. Of these 102 patients, 77 were contacted. The duration of their symptoms was less than 24 hours in 56 patients (73%). Their mean waiting time was 2.44 hours. Of the patients reviewed, 45 (58%) sought medical attention afterwards and one required hospital admission. The majority of patients were satisfied by the explanation given for the delay in seeing a doctor. This limited study suggests that patients are able themselves to gauge the severity of their symptoms and safely defer medical consultation.
authors.affiliation: Accident and Emergency Department, North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary, Stoke-on-Trent, UK.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khanna
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Chaudhry
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prescott
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom