Seven-year evolution of discharge diagnoses of emergency department users

Abstract

The proportion of emergency-department users, who are discharged without admission to hospital, increased and exceeded 70% of total cases received. On average, 20% of the discharge diagnoses were in the category 'symptoms, signs, abnormal findings, and ill-defined causes'. The pattern of discharge diagnoses can be assumed to reflect an increased load on the emergency department.

Comparative Value of Medical Diagnosis Versus Physical Functioning in Predicting the 6-Year Survival of 1951 Hospitalized Old Patients

“…The duration of follow-up is one of the longest (6 years); most studies never exceed 1 year, except one with a 7-year followup. [26][27][28][29][30][31][32] We confirm the importance of both the number of clinical diseases and functional ability on the post-discharge mortality, and we have been able to affirm that the impairment of functional status is a predominant predictive factor of mortality.…”

“…3,26,35 Moreover the length of follow-up (6 years) is one of the longest in comparison to previously published mortality risk factor studies, which vary from 1 to 7 years. [26][27][28][29][30][31][32] The high quality of the present study is also emphasized by the completeness of the data; information from only one patient out of 1951 patients was missing at the end of the 6-year follow-up (99.9% observance).…”

Non-Causative Discharge Diagnosis from the Emergency Department and Risk of Suicide

“…The ED serves patients aged 18 years and older. The pattern of discharge diagnosis has been described previously and is similar to what has been reported from the ED of the San Francisco General Hospital (17,18). At the Landspitali University Hospital and nearby hospitals, there are other EDs for psychiatry, pediatrics, gynecology and obstetrics, as well as a special level one trauma center.…”

“…During this inclusion period, 31,586 visits were made to the ED by 20,296 individuals who were discharged home and who were all entered into the study at the time of discharge. The material has been dealt with in previous studies, so only a brief description will be given here (16,17). All residents of Iceland are included in the National Registry under a unique personal identification number allocated at birth (a 10-digit number that includes the day, month, and year of birth).…”

“…The most prevalent main diagnostic category of ED users who were discharged home was a non-causative diagnosis in the category of "Symptoms, signs, abnormal findings, and ill-defined causes," according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10, R00 -99), which accounted for 20% of discharged patients (17).…”