Reasons for emergency department use of low-acuity attender: results from the prospective, multicentre, cross-sectional EPICS-9/PiNo-Bund study
Abstract
Background The number of low-acuity emergency department (ED) visits varies across Europe and is often posited as a contributing factor to ED crowding. Many health policy-makers and health professionals assume that these cases are ‘avoidable’ ED visits or could be referred to other ambulatory healthcare providers. Objectives This study examines the care-seeking behaviour and the reasoning behind patients with low-acuity ED attendance according to emergency triage. Design and setting In a prospective multicentre cross-sectional survey, patients were invited to participate in an anonymised, paper-based survey in the waiting areas of nine EDs in Germany (2018–2020). The survey included questions on sociodemographic characteristics, reasons for using the ED, previous consultations in the outpatient healthcare system, self-rated urgency and knowledge of other emergency care structures. Due to the variance of missing values in the different responses, the valid percentages are shown. Results Of the 2752 survey respondents, 41.1% (n=1 120) indicated that ‘pain’ was the primary complaint for their ED attendance. Self-rated urgency was ‘less urgent’ for 58.7% (n=1552), ‘urgent’ for 41.3% (n=1093) and 57.7% reported the first episode of their symptoms (n=1505), with 30.8% (n=830) with symptom onset on the same day. The majority of patients completed the survey on weekdays (94.6%) between 08:00 and 18:00 (82.2%). 80.1% stated that they had a general practitioner (GP) (n=2103) and 55.8%…
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