Determining the true burden of general practice patients in the emergency department: The need for robust methodology

Acceptability of emergency department triage nurse's advice for patients to attend general practice: A cross-sectional survey

OBJECTIVES

Demand for ED care is increasing at a rate higher than population growth. Strategies to attenuate ED demands include diverting low-acuity general practice-type ED attendees to alternate primary healthcare settings. The present study assessed the ED attendees' receptiveness to accept triage nurse's face-to-face advice to explore alternate options for medical care and what factors influence the level of acceptance.

METHODS

The ED attendees of four major public hospital EDs in Brisbane were surveyed between August and October 2018, using a questionnaire informed by Health Belief Model's cues to action.

RESULTS

Of the 514 valid responses, 81% of respondents were very likely/likely to accept the triage nurse's advice to see a general practitioner. Self-perceived urgency of presenting condition/s (odds ratio [OR] 0.87, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.78-0.97), not having confidence in general practitioner (OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.21-0.66) and having a medical record at the hospital (OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.36-0.99) were negatively associated with the likelihood of accepting the advice. For every point increase in perceived seriousness, the odds of accepting the advice decreased by 16% (95% CI 6-25%).

CONCLUSION

Most of the participants believed that EDs were for emergent care and they attended the ED because they perceived their presenting condition/s to be serious and/or urgent. The acceptability of face-to-face advice by triage nurse to seek help in general practice was influenced by perceived threats of the illness, and the underlying beliefs about availability, accessibility, suitability and affordability of the service.

Drivers of general practice-type presentations to the emergency department in a remote outback community

OBJECTIVE

To estimate the number of general practice-appropriate attendances in a remote emergency department and explore the reasons for patients' choice of service.

DESIGN

A four-step case study approach was adopted, focusing on hospital emergency department (ED) attendances that were potentially manageable in general practice.

SETTING

A large, remote community with substantial populations of Indigenous peoples and fly-in, fly-out mining industry workers. The ED is experiencing rapid growth in demand for services for lower urgency.

PARTICIPANTS

Patients attending the emergency department with lower urgency problems.

INTERVENTIONS

ED attendance data for 2016 were reviewed to identify lower urgency presentations. Patient records for 400 randomly selected presentations were subject to deeper analysis. A prospective survey was conducted over 6 months of 369 ED patients with lower urgency presentations.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The proportion of patients attending the ED with GP-appropriate problems and influences on their decisions to attend the ED.

RESULTS

About 48% of all attendances met the agreed definition of GP-appropriate problems. About half of presentations were during the normal work hours and about half of patients stated that GP services were unavailable. Younger age, lack of information about local GP services, and perceptions of convenience contributed significantly to seeking ED care.

CONCLUSION

Increasing the availability of GP services alone is unlikely to be sufficient to change service utilisation. Strategies should include raising community awareness of how and when to utilise the appropriate service, understanding different models of care, and the need to register with a general practice.

Understanding registered nurse decision-making, communication and care delivery between emergency departments and residential aged care facilities: A research protocol

OBJECTIVES

Nursing staff in residential aged care facilities (RACF)s often make decisions about the transfer of residents to the emergency department (ED). This paper describes the protocol of a study that aims to understand decision-making process utilised by RACF registered nurses (RNs) and to explore the perceptions of RNs about the decision and communication process between RACF and ED.

METHODS

The proposed mixed-method study will survey and interview RACF RNs to understand their decision to transfer a resident and collect information about older people referred to the ED. Data collection will involve telephone survey, ED information system (EDIS) data and semistructured interviews.

RESULTS

The project outcomes will provide an understanding of existing ED service provision, communication between facilities and the reasons for transfer of older person to ED. This may inform redesign in communication processes between the ED and local RACFs and outreach care from the ED to RACFs.

Investigating the referral of patients with non-urgent conditions to a regional Australian emergency department: a study protocol

Background

Australia’s only island state, Tasmania, experiences one of the nation’s highest incidences of non-urgent emergency department (ED) presentations in a healthcare system regularly faced with service demands that exceed resource availability. Service-demand mismatches are acknowledged to contribute to ED crowding which in turn, has been documented to have a correlation with poorer patient outcomes. Crowding within EDs is complex, non-urgent presentations alone are not the primary cause, but have been reported to be a contributing factor. In 2015–16 Tasmania recorded over 153,000 ED attendances, 55% of these fell into the two least urgent triage categories. Recent research in the State’s North established that 29% of non-urgent presentations were referred, formally or informally, from primary healthcare providers and that, for many patients (39%), the ED was not their first choice of service provider. This study aims to identify the service needs of patients referred to a regional Australian ED and subsequently triaged as non-urgent.

Method

In order to achieve this aim, three objectives have been identified. The first two objectives use an explanatory sequential mixed-method approach while the third objective will incorporate an implementation science approach. These three objectives are: first, a retrospective analysis of seven years of routinely collected hospital data to identify trends in referral of patients with non-urgent conditions; second, focus group interviews with patients and primary care providers to further understand perceived need and service requirements of those referred to the ED, and third, translation of findings into local health service recommendations.

Discussion

Identification of the needs of patients referred to the ED with non-urgent conditions will inform future service planning aiming to facilitate access to the right service at the right time and in the right place.

Self-referring patients at the emergency department: appropriateness of ED use and motives for self-referral

BACKGROUND

Nearly all Dutch citizens have a general practitioner (GP), acting as a gatekeeper to secondary care. Some patients bypass the GP and present to the emergency department (ED). To make best use of existing emergency care, Dutch health policy makers and insurance companies have proposed the integration of EDs and GP cooperatives (GPCs) into one facility. In this study, we examined ED use and assessed the characteristics of self-referrals and non-self-referrals, their need for hospital emergency care and self-referrals' motives for presenting at the ED.

METHODS

A descriptive cohort study was conducted in a Dutch level 1 trauma centre. Differences in patient characteristics, time of presentation and need for hospital emergency care were analysed using χ (2) tests and t tests. A patient was considered to need hospital emergency care when he/she was admitted to the hospital, had an extremity fracture and/or when diagnostic tests were performed. Main determinants of self-referral were identified via logistic regression.

RESULTS

Of the 5,003 consecutive ED patients registering within the 5-week study period, 3,028 (60.5%) were self-referrals. Thirty-nine percent of the self-referrals had urgent acuity levels, as opposed to 65% of the non-self-referrals. Self-referrals more often suffered from injuries (49 vs. 20%). One third of the self-referrals presented during office hours. Of all self-referrals, 51% needed hospital emergency care. Younger age; non-urgent acuity level; chest pain, ear, nose or throat problems; and injuries were independent predictors for self-referral. Most cited motives for self-referring were 'accessibility and convenience' and perceived 'medical necessity'.

CONCLUSIONS

A substantial part of the self-referrals needed hospital emergency care. The 49% self-referrals who were eligible for GP care presented during out-of-hours as well as during office hours. This calls for an integrative approach to this health care problem.

Is the case-mix of patients who self-present to ED similar to general practice and other acute-care facilities?

OBJECTIVE

To benchmark walk-in presentations to emergency departments (ED) with those presenting to other local acute healthcare facilities.

SETTING

A large teaching hospital with an annual ED census of 140, 000 adult patients and surrounding associated acute healthcare providers.

METHODS

A random sample of 384 patients who self-presented to the ED was obtained. Benchmarking data were drawn from two general practices; the Tower Hamlets Community Services walk-in centre (co-located on-site with the ED) and the GP-run out-of-hours service.

RESULTS

The case-mix presenting to the ED was characterised by a higher proportion of injuries and chest pain, but fewer simple infections and non-traumatic musculoskeletal conditions as compared to other acute care facilities in our region.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with injuries and possible cardiac chest pain were more likely to attend the ED, and those with infection or musculoskeletal problems less likely, as compared with other acute healthcare facilities. The population presenting to the ED is distinct from that presenting to general practice, out-of-hours clinics, or walk-in centres.