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Reasons for non-urgent presentations to the emergency department in Saudi Arabia
1School of Nursing, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Qld, Australia; Emergency Department, Security Forces Hospital Program, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Background:
The majority of patients who attend emergency departments (EDs) in Saudi Arabia have non-urgent problems, resulting in overcrowding, excessive waiting times and delayed care for more acutely ill patients. The purpose of this research was to examine the reasons for non-urgent visits to a Saudi ED and factors associated with patient perceptions of urgency.
Methods:
We administered a survey to 350 consecutively presenting Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) IV or V adult patients at a large tertiary ED in Riyadh region, Saudi Arabia, during 25 days of data collection in March 2013.
Results:
Over half of the sample usually visited the ED to access healthcare. The most common reasons for attending the ED were not having a regular healthcare provider (63%), being able to receive care on the same day (62%), and the convenience of and access to medical care 24/7 (62%). Approximately two-thirds of CTAS V patients and one-third of CTAS IV patients believed their conditions were more urgent than their triage nurse rating.
Conclusion:
Multiple factors influence non-urgent visits to the ED in the Saudi context including insufficient community awareness of the role of the ED and perceived lack of access to primary healthcare services.
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