Back so soon? Characterizing emergency department use after trauma

Area of Science:

• Trauma care research
• Emergency medicine
• Healthcare utilization studies

Background:

• Readmissions after trauma are common, but Emergency Department (ED) use post-injury is less understood.
• Limited data exists on factors influencing repeat ED visits following initial trauma care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify factors associated with patients returning to the ED after experiencing trauma.
• To analyze predictors of ED utilization within 30 days of discharge for trauma patients.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of adult trauma patients from January to December 2014.
• Data collected included demographics, follow-up plans, and characteristics of repeat ED visits.
• Univariate analysis and multi-logistic regression were used to identify predictive factors.

Main Results:

• 14% of 1836 trauma patients revisited the ED within 30 days.
• Penetrating trauma was a significant predictor of return ED visits (OR 2.15, p=0.001).
• Scheduled follow-up also predicted return ED visits (OR 1.81, p=0.046).

Conclusions:

• Patients with penetrating trauma face a higher risk of returning to the ED.
• Wound and pain issues are common reasons for these revisits.
• Identifying these risk factors enables targeted interventions to optimize ED resource allocation.