Najnin Ahmed, Shah Salman Khan, Yasir Mehmood, Babar Ahad, Hamid Hussain, Naeem Ullah.
A study on the Factors Associated with Non- Urgent Utilization of Emergency Department.
J Saidu Med Col Jan ;8(2):83-9.

Background: Increased use of Emergency Departments (EDs) for non-urgent primary care, overcrowding, and cost factors has forced healthcare systems to promote more "appropriate? use of the ED. However, few studies have evaluated patients' perceptions of emergency and why they utilize the ED for non-urgent medical care. Objective: To understand the factors influencing patients' decision to visit ED for a non-urgent medical condition Materials and Methods: This descriptive study evaluated the utilization of the ED for non-urgent healthcare problems in University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) .Two hundred and nine patients were surveyed prospectively regarding their perceptions of the urgeny of their presenting complaints during ED non-urgent visits. Physicians rated the subjects' level of urgency prospectively and retrospectively. The study evaluated patient's characteristics and factors that influence the use of the Emergency Departments for non-urgent cases Results: The patients' perceptions of urgency were higher overall than the physicians' prospective and retrospective ratings. Patients ratings of emergency were 54% among the respondents. Physicians rated subjects urgency prospectively (6.7 % urgent , 36.4 % non-uregnt) and retrospectively (3.3 % urgent, 37.3 % non-urgent). Conclusions: A number of demographic and socioeconomic factors arose from the study which elicited patients decision of choosing Emergency Departments for non-urgent conditions as well as their perceptions of urgency.

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