ArticleMedizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin2021
[Even low-acuity patients prefer hospital-based emergency care : A survey of non-urgent patients in an emergency department with unique regional position].
Article in Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- How do interventions in primary care or in emergency departments impact less urgent patients' emergency care utilization? A systematic review.BMC health services research · 2026Pooled it
- Clinical Urgency of After-Hours Presentations of Dogs and Cats to a Private Small-Animal Practice in Germany: A Retrospective Study of 4579 Visits.Veterinary sciences · 2026Article
- Current situation and influencing factors of emergency department visits by non-urgent young and middle-aged patients in China: A retrospective study.Belitung nursing journal · 2026Article
- General Practice-led urgent care practice vs. emergency room - satisfaction of ambulatory patients with low urgency medical problems.The European journal of general practice · 2025Observational
- Prior Outpatient Care Use in Emergency Department Patients with Low- and High-acuity Conditions in Germany.The western journal of emergency medicine · 2025Article
- [The utilization of ophthalmological emergency departments is on the rise : 14-year results from a German tertiary university outpatient department].Die Ophthalmologie · 2025Article
- Patient navigation in German emergency care (NODE). Study protocol of a multi-center mixed-methods trial.Frontiers in health services · 2025Article
- Evaluating Ocular Healthcare Accessibility and the Severity of Emergencies during Times of Crisis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Health care utilization of patients with acute abdominal pain before and after emergency department visits.Scandinavian journal of trauma, resuscitation and emergency medicine · 2024Article
- Emergency department visits as a potential opportunity to promote primary care attachment and modify utilization patterns - results of a pilot study in Berlin, Germany.BMC emergency medicine · 2024Article
- [Characteristics of older versus younger emergency patients : Analysis of over 356,000 visits from the AKTIN German emergency department data registry].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2024Article
- The significance of nonurgent psychiatric emergencies in an ED: a retrospective study.BMC emergency medicine · 2023Article
- [Patients treated by general practitioners in a university emergency department before and after implementation of a triage system].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2023Article
- Apart from the Medical Complaints, Why do Patients Use Emergency Medical Services? Results of a Patient Survey.Gesundheitswesen (Bundesverband der Arzte des Offentlichen Gesundheitsdienstes (Germany)) · 2022Article
- [Emergency medical service, medical on-call service, or emergency department : Germans unsure whom to contact in acute medical events].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2022Article
- INDEED-Utilization and Cross-Sectoral Patterns of Care for Patients Admitted to Emergency Departments in Germany: Rationale and Study Design.Frontiers in public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBesides increasing numbers of cases in German emergency departments (ED), the spectrum of attending patients is also changing. Patients with acute illnesses tend to prefer EDs to ambulatory care as primary contact point. This study examines the motives for use and use behavior of low-urgent ED-patients.
methodsAnonymous patient survey in the ED of Wolfsburg Hospital between 12/2015 and 03/2016 with descriptive analysis. All patients with low urgency (Manchester-Triage-System (MTS), levels blue and green) were eligible.
results81.5% of respondents (729 evaluable out of 7000 questionnaires distributed) attended the ED between 8:00 a. m. and 5:00 p. m., 70.1 % of them were walk-in patients. The motive most frequently cited was that they would receive better care in the ED (48.3 %). Contrary to acuity assessment, 67.8 % of respondents considered themselves a medium to life-threatening emergency. As alternative option, 49.2 % would choose a nearby clinic in the region for their complaints.
conclusionSelf-assessed urgency differs with acuity assessment according to MTS. Patients who fear an acute threat to their health do not use services provided in the ambulatory sector such as the emergency practice of the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians in the immediate proximity sufficiently. Previous approaches for patient navigation do not seem to be successful in this setting. Strengthening of EDs as a single 24/7 access point for emergency care with simultaneous abolition of parallel care structures should be discussed.
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