Inpatient Outcomes Following a Return Visit to the Emergency Department: A Nationwide Cohort Study

Introduction: Emergency department (ED) revisits are traditionally used to measure potential lapses in emergency care. However, recent studies on in-hospital outcomes following ED revisits have begun to challenge this notion. We aimed to examine inpatient outcomes and resource use among patients who were hospitalized following a return visit to the ED using a national database.Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study using the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. One-third of ED visits from 2012 –2013 were randomly selected and their subsequent hospitalizations included. We analyzed the inpatient outcomes (mortality and intensive care unit [ICU] admission) and resource use (length of stay [LOS] and costs). Comparisons were made between patients who were hospitalized after a return visit t o the ED and those who were hospitalized during the index ED visit. Results:...
Source: Western Journal of Emergency Medicine - Category: Emergency Medicine Source Type: research