Age Is Not Associated with Increased Admission Rates, Hospital Length-of-Stay, or Mortality in Elderly Emergency Department Patients Presenting with Undifferentiated Abdominal Pain

Prolonged waiting times are associated with worse patient experience in patients discharged from the emergency department (ED). However, it is unclear which component of the waiting times is most impactful to the patient experience and the impact on hospitalized patients. We performed a retrospective analysis of ED patients between July 2018 and March 30, 2020. In all, 3278 patients were included: 1477 patients were discharged from the ED, and 1680 were admitted. Discharged patients had a longer door-to-first provider and door-to-doctor time, but a shorter doctor-to-disposition, disposition-to-departure, and total ED time when compared to admitted patients. Some, but not all, components of waiting times were significantly higher in patients with suboptimal experience (<100th percentile). Prolonged door-to-doctor time was significantly associated with worse patient experience in discharged patients and in patients with hospital length of stay ≤4 days. Prolonged ED waiting times were significantly associated with worse patient experience in patients who were discharged from the ED and in inpatients with short length of stay. Door-to-doctor time seems to have the highest impact on the patient’s experience of these 2 groups.

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Predictive factors for prolonged hospitalisation in acute pyelonephritis patients admitted to the emergency medicine ward

Hong Kong Journal of Emergency Medicine ◽

10.1177/10249079211000976 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 102490792110009

Author(s):

Howard Tat Chun Chan ◽

Ling Yan Leung ◽

Alex Kwok Keung Law ◽

Chi Hung Cheng ◽

Colin A Graham

Keyword(s):

Emergency Department ◽

Emergency Medicine ◽

Length Of Stay ◽

Acute Pyelonephritis ◽

Hospital Length ◽

Hospital Length Of Stay ◽

Prolonged Length ◽

Reactive Protein ◽

Prolonged Hospital ◽

Emergency Medicine Ward

Background: Acute pyelonephritis is a bacterial infection of the upper urinary tract. Patients can be admitted to a variety of wards for treatment. However, at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong, they are managed initially in the emergency medicine ward. The aim of the study is to identify the risk factors that are associated with a prolonged hospital length of stay. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study conducted in Prince of Wales Hospital. The study recruited patients who were admitted to the emergency medicine ward between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2017. These patients presented with clinical features of pyelonephritis, received antibiotic treatment and had a discharge diagnosis of pyelonephritis. The length of stay was measured and any length of stay over 72 h was considered to be prolonged. Results: There were 271 patients admitted to the emergency medicine ward, and 118 (44%) had a prolonged hospital length of stay. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that the only statistically significant predictor of prolonged length of stay was a raised C-reactive protein (odds ratio 1.01; 95% confidence 1.01–1.02; p < 0.0001). Out of 271 patients, 261 received antibiotics in the emergency department. All 10 patients (8.5%) who did not receive antibiotics in emergency department had a prolonged length of stay (p = 0.0002). Conclusion: In this series of acute pyelonephritis treated in the emergency medicine ward, raised C-reactive protein levels were predictive for prolonged length of stay. Patients who did not receive antibiotics in the emergency department prior to emergency medicine ward admission had prolonged length of stay.

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Disagreement between emergency department admission diagnosis and hospital discharge diagnosis: mortality and morbidity

Diagnosis ◽

10.1515/dx-2015-0028 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

pp. 23-30 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

James Eames ◽

Arie Eisenman ◽

Richard J. Schuster

Keyword(s):

Emergency Department ◽

Length Of Stay ◽

Medical Center ◽

Hospital Length ◽

Hospital Length Of Stay ◽

Admission Diagnosis ◽

Mortality And Morbidity ◽

Emergency Department Admission ◽

Icu Length Of Stay ◽

Discordant Group

AbstractPrevious studies have shown that changes in diagnoses from admission to discharge are associated with poorer outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate how diagnostic discordance affects patient outcomes.: The first three digits of ICD-9-CM codes at admission and discharge were compared for concordance. The study involved 6281 patients admitted to the Western Galilee Medical Center, Naharyia, Israel from the emergency department (ED) between 01 November 2012 and 21 January 2013. Concordant and discordant diagnoses were compared in terms of, length of stay, number of transfers, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, readmission, and mortality.: Discordant diagnoses was associated with increases in patient mortality rate (5.1% vs. 1.5%; RR 3.35, 95% CI 2.43, 4.62; p<0.001), the number of ICU admissions (6.7% vs. 2.7%; RR 2.58, 95% CI 2.07, 3.32; p<0.001), hospital length of stay (3.8 vs. 2.5 days; difference 1.3 days, 95% CI 1.2, 1.4; p<0.001), ICU length of stay (5.2 vs. 3.8 days; difference 1.4 days, 95% CI 1.0, 1.9; p<0.001), and 30 days readmission (14.11% vs. 12.38%; RR 1.14, 95% CI 1.00, 1.30; p=0.0418). ED length of stay was also greater for the discordant group (3.0 vs. 2.9 h; difference 8.8 min; 95% CI 0.1, 0.2; p<0.001): These findings indicate discordant admission and discharge diagnoses are associated with increases in morbidity and mortality. Further research should identify modifiable causes of discordance.

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