Articles: emergency-services.
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Stat Bull Metrop Insur Co · Oct 1995
CommentThe urgency of visits to hospital emergency departments: data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), 1992.
During 1992, an estimated 89.8 million visits were made to the emergency departments (EDs) of nonfederal, short-stay or general hospitals in the United States. Of these ED visits, 40.1 million (44.6 percent) were labeled urgent by hospital staff. For survey purposes, an urgent visit was defined as one in which the patient requires immediate attention for an acute illness or injury that threatens life or function and where delay would be harmful to the patient. ⋯ Along with injury and poisoning, diseases of the respiratory system and "signs, symptoms, and ill-defined conditions" accounted for the majority of both urgent and nonurgent ED visits. About one-quarter (24.9 percent) of urgent ED visits resulted in hospital admission. However, the most common disposition at both urgent and nonurgent ED visits was referral to another physician.
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Tidsskr. Nor. Laegeforen. · Sep 1995
[Emergency hospital admissions. A survey and consumer assessment of conditions in an emergency department admission office].
159 patients admitted to a local hospital completed a questionnaire during the autumn of 1992 in order to evaluate the service rendered to the patients during their stay in the admission/emergency unit. The patients were generally satisfied with the service rendered in the admission/emergency unit. However, some patients were dissatisfied with the information given by the nurses and the doctors. 83 of the patients (57%) were examined by a doctor within 15 minutes after admission. ⋯ With respect to the patients' rating of different skills among nurses and doctors, only 37% of the patients rated technical competence as the most important factor for the nursing profession, as opposed to 59% for the doctors. For both professions the ability to give information was rated as the second most important factor. Since the comments from the patients reflect parts of the service that can be changed, we believe such surveys can be of great value for the hospitals' efforts to improve the service provided.
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To determine the frequency with which patients with suspected tuberculosis (TB) or TB risk factors present to US emergency departments and to describe current ED TB infection-control facilities and practices. ⋯ Patients with TB or at risk for TB are often treated in US EDs, and the risk for transmission of TB in this setting appears to be increasing. Prolonged waiting times and lack of infection-control facilities in EDs may contribute to this problem. Consideration should be given to implementation of policies and facilities recommended by the CDC.