The American journal of emergency medicine
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Nonurgent visits to emergency departments (ED) are a controversial issue; they have been negatively associated with crowding and costs. We have conducted a critical review of the literature regarding methods for categorizing ED visits into urgent or nonurgent and analyzed the proportions of nonurgent ED visits. We found 51 methods of categorization. ⋯ The proportions of nonurgent ED visits varied considerably: 4.8% to 90%, with a median of 32%. Comparisons of methods of categorization in the same population showed variability in levels of agreement. Our review has highlighted the lack of reliability and reproducibility.