[Children's unscheduled return visits to an emergency department]

To study the patients who make unscheduled return vi-sits in less than week to a pediatric emergency department (ED).

Retrospective review of 495 episodes in 233 children who were attended at our ED in November 1999.

In November 1999, we registered 3667 episodes at our ED (495 corresponding to 233 children who made repeat visits, 13.4%). The most common chief complaints among children who revisited were fever and respiratory symptoms. The most common diagnoses were fever with-out apparent source, ORL infections, asthma and acute gastro-enteritis. The diagnoses made at the initial and fi-nal visits were the same in 131 cases (56.2%), a complication was detected in 18 (7.7%) and 84 (36.1%) were given a different diagnosis. The percentage of patients who received a symptomatic diagnosis was lower in the final visit. The admission rate of children who revisited was higher than that of children who visited our ED once (6.4% vs. 3.0%, p = 0.009), caused by the group of patients who received a different diagnosis when they revisited our ED.

Patients who revisit a pediatric ED within a week are more likely to be admitted to the hospital, especially if the diagnosis they receive varies.