ArticleSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2021
From metrics to practice: identifying preventable emergency department visits for patients with cancer.
Article in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Drivers of Emergency Department Use Among Oncology Patients in the Era of Novel Cancer Therapeutics: A Systematic Review.The oncologist · 2023Pooled it
- Telehealth education for patients with cancer: a standalone solution for symptom relief?Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- [Patients with cancer: a challenge for emergency departments].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2025Review
- Assessing the Validity of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Measure in Identifying Potentially Preventable Emergency Department Visits by Patients With Cancer.JCO oncology practice · 2025Article
- Epidemiology of Non-Emergent Cancer-Related Emergency Department Visits in Korea between 2016 and 2020.Yonsei medical journal · 2024Article
- A secondary analysis: the impact of pre-existing chronic pain among patients with cancer presenting to the emergency department with acute pain.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2024Article
- Article
- Retrospective study of cancer patients' predictive factors of care in a large, Hungarian tertiary care centre.BMJ open · 2023Observational
- Characteristics and general practice resource use of people with comorbid cancer and dementia in England: a retrospective cross-sectional study.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- Recognizing the emergency department's role in oncologic care: a review of the literature on unplanned acute care.Emergency cancer care · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOncology patients disproportionately utilize the emergency department (ED) for symptom management. At our institution, approximately 1 in 4 visits to the ED by oncology patients led to discharge. We hypothesized that many of the visits leading to ED discharge would be potentially preventable (PP).
methodsWe retrospectively characterized ED discharges of oncology patients. Visits were classified by presenting symptom, type of cancer, and time of ED visit. Chart reviewers were additionally asked whether each case could have been safely managed as an outpatient.
resultsWe analyzed 100 ED discharges in a 4-month period in 2016 and 2017. Gastrointestinal (GI) complaints, pain, and fever were the most common presenting symptoms for these visits. We rated 44 of 100 ED discharges as potentially preventable. Given we analyzed only ED discharges which comprise about 25% of ED visits for patients with cancer, overall about 10% of all ED visits by these patients may be preventable. We also found that ED visits without a clinic appointment or phone call to the clinic on the day of ED presentation were more likely to be preventable (51% vs 27%, OR 2.9, p = 0.026).
conclusionsMany ED visits by oncology patients may be preventable and occur for symptoms which can be managed as an outpatient. More of these visits also appear to occur in those who do not reach a clinic member prior to the visit. These findings suggest that improved access to clinics and standardized outpatient symptom management are next steps to consider in preventing ED visits in this vulnerable population.
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