Reasons for non-urgent presentations to the emergency department in Saudi Arabia.
BACKGROUND
The majority of patients who attend emergency departments (EDs) in Saudi Arabia have non-urgent problems, resulting in overcrowding, excessive waiting times and delayed care for more acutely ill patients. The purpose of this research was to examine the reasons for non-urgent visits to a Saudi ED and factors associated with patient perceptions of urgency.


METHODS
We administered a survey to 350 consecutively presenting Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) IV or V adult patients at a large tertiary ED in Riyadh region, Saudi Arabia, during 25 days of data collection in March 2013.


RESULTS
Over half of the sample usually visited the ED to access healthcare. The most common reasons for attending the ED were not having a regular healthcare provider (63%), being able to receive care on the same day (62%), and the convenience of and access to medical care 24/7 (62%). Approximately two-thirds of CTAS V patients and one-third of CTAS IV patients believed their conditions were more urgent than their triage nurse rating.


CONCLUSIONS
Multiple factors influence non-urgent visits to the ED in the Saudi context including insufficient community awareness of the role of the ED and perceived lack of access to primary healthcare services.
School of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Qld, Australia; Emergency Department, Security Forces Hospital Program, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ali
A
Alyasin
School of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Qld, Australia. Electronic address: c2.douglas@qut.edu.au.
Clint
C
Douglas
D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D062072:Patient Acuity; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014218:Triage
Emergency department; Non-urgent; Patient perception; Saudi Arabia; Triage system