Assessing Challenges with Access to Care for Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department for Non-Emergent Complaints
Abstract
Emergency department (ED) utilization continues to climb nationwide resulting in overcrowding, increasing wait times, and a surge in patients with non-urgent conditions. Patients frequently choose the ED for apparent non-emergent medical issues or injuries that after-the-fact could be cared for in a primary care setting. We seek to better understand the reasons why patients choose the ED over their primary care managers. We surveyed patients that signed into the ED at the Brooke Army Medical Center as an emergency severity index of 4 or 5 (non-emergent triage) regarding their visit. We then linked their survey data to their ED visit. We defined their visit to be non-urgent and more appropriate for primary care, if they were discharged home and received minimal interventions. During the 2-month period, we collected data on 208 participants out of a total of 252 people offered a survey (82.5%). There were 92% (n=191) that were primary care eligible within our respondent pool. Patient perceptions of difficulty obtaining appointments appears to be a major component of the ED use for non-emergent visits. Within our dataset, most patients surveyed stated they had difficulty obtaining a timely appointment or self-reported as an emergency.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 16, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1151861
Entities
People
- Adrianna Long
- Ashley D. Tapia
- Brit Long
- Camaren M. Cuenca
- Eric J. Chin
- James Bynum
- Joseph K Maddry
- Michael D. April
- Ryan S Lauby
- Sarah A. Johnson
- Steven G Schauer
- William Fernandez