Access to care among emergency department patients

Abstract

Convenience, location, institutional preference and access to other physicians are common factors that influence patients' decisions to seek care in ED.

Characterising emergency department high-frequency users in a rural hospital

“…Research provides conflicting pictures of patients visiting EDs for non-urgent care; some would prefer to be seen by their family physicians if they were able to access primary care, while others prefer the 24 h service provided by EDs 1 15. Patients may not be able to get timely appointments with their family physicians, are referred to the ED for symptoms that even approximate an emergent condition, may significantly impact primary care office schedules, or may have problems accessing care outside of working hours which is supported by the highest frequencies of admissions occurring in the afternoon/evening and nights.…”

“…Patients who lived within a few miles were more likely to use ED than those who lived further away, especially in cases where the ED was closer than their primary care provider 13 14. This suggests the ‘convenience’ of geographic location coupled with the availability of services during ‘off hours’ may have further influenced frequency of ED use 15. Additionally, regional differences have reported decreased ED usage for those enrolled in managed care plans residing in the southern and western USA 16…”

Analysis of HIV Testing Acceptance and Risk Factors of an Adolescent Cohort Using Emergency Department–Based Multimedia HIV Testing and Counseling

“…23 Less than half of teens aged 15 to 17 knew where to go to get testing for HIV. 24 Urban populations including adolescents have low access to primary care because of financial constraints. 25 Patients choose to come to the ED because of its convenience and location and because they had no primary care provider.…”

“…The literature shows that individually targeted educational interventions can reduce sexually risky behaviors in adolescents, 26 and the Kaiser Foundation shows that many teens want to know more about a range of topics related to HIV/AIDS. 24 Therefore, the Project B.R.I.E.F. video model can increase HIV knowledge and promote safer sexual behaviors.…”

Competencies in Swedish emergency departments – The practitioners’ and managers’ perspective

“…Nationally and internationally, the number of patients visiting EDs is rising and the number of EDs is falling, resulting in a changing workload in the remaining EDs (Institute of Medicine, 2006;Säfwenberg, 2008; The National Board of Health and Welfare, 2011b; Marco et al, 2012). This trend presents new challenges and requires work procedures designed to reduce throughput time in EDs and thus improve patient satisfaction (Cassidy-Smith et al, 2007).…”