Background The purpose of this study was to investigate the primary factors associated with inappropriate out‐of‐hours emergency department ( ED ) use by patients with nonurgent conditions. Methods We compared patients with nonurgent conditions who made inappropriate, out‐of‐hours ED visits to patients who visited an acute care hospital during daytime consultation hours between May 30 and October 16, 2014, in terms of patient characteristics and reasons for consultation. Our goal was to identify factors associated with inappropriate ED use, defined as an out‐of‐hours, nonurgent, and unnecessary visits. Results We analyzed data from 84 patients who made inappropriate use of out‐of‐hours emergency care and 147 patients who sought care during regular consultation hours. In the inappropriate use group, “desire to be cured quickly” was the most common reason. Acute upper respiratory infection, acute gastroenteritis, and primary headache comprised 51.1% of diagnoses in the inappropriate use group. One factor associated with inappropriate use was two or more previous out‐of‐hours ED visits (odds ratio ( OR ) 3.19; 95% confidence interval ( CI ) 1.22‐8.31) (reference: 0 visits). Conclusions Patients with two or more previous out‐of‐hours ED visits were more than three times as likely to inappropriately use the ED compared to patients who had not visited the ED at all in the past 3 years.

BackgroundThe World Health Organization and several governments encourage medical self-care (including self-medication) for minor illnesses. Accordingly, the factors that influence self-care have received research attention, with socioeconomic status identified as one such predictor. Although studies have examined the relationship between socioeconomic status and quality of life (QOL) in patients suffering from respiratory allergies or chronic illnesses, the relationship between QOL and self-care behavior for the common cold, the most common illness seen in primary care, has not been examined. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between QOL and self-care behavior in individuals suffering from the common cold.MethodsWe distributed questionnaires to 499 people who attended an annual public health checkup in Kasama city, Japan. Valid questionnaires were received from 398 participants (mean age = 59.0, SD = 15.8, range = 24–87 years; 61.4 % women). The materials included a question relating to typical actions taken when treating a common cold (self-care or visiting a health clinic), demographics, and the Short Form-8™ (SF-8™)—an 8-item survey that assesses health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The association of care action and HRQOL were investigated using Mann–Whitney U tests with a significance level of p < 0.05.ResultsThe mean scores for the Physical Functioning, Role-Physical, Bodily Pain, Social Functioning, Role-Emotional, and Physical Component Summary score of the SF-8™ were significantly higher among the self-care group than the group that preferred visiting a clinic.ConclusionsHRQOL among individuals who engage in self-care when treating the common cold was observed to be significantly higher than among individuals who preferred to attend a health clinic. It is unclear whether self-care behavior affects QOL, or whether QOL affects self-care behavior; however, this finding highlights the importance of the relationship between QOL and self-care behavior. Additional studies should be conducted in order to investigate the direction of causality between self-care behaviors and QOL further.