Critical revisits after discharge from the emergency department

Emergency department (ED) revisits within 72 h is a standard quality measure for emergency care but most revisits are managed and discharged. However, a sub-group of revisits are due to clinical deterioration resulting in admissions to higher acuity care or even mortality. We aimed to identify these critical revisits and their associated risk factors. Identification of these factors would allow development of strategies to reduce incidence of post discharge deterioration.

A retrospective cohort study was conducted on all patients who had a revisit within 72 h of discharge from the ED of a tertiary hospital in Singapore from 2008 to 2020. Deidentified data were extracted from the electronic health records (EHR). We identified critical revisits, defined as a revisit that resulted in death or admission to Intensive Care Unit or High Dependency. These patients were compared to patients who had a revisit that resulted in discharge or admission to general ward. The main outcome was the rate of critical revisit. We also determined the commonest index and critical revisit ED diagnosis as well as factors associated with critical revisits.

Out of 1,057,533 discharges from the ED over the study period, 44,506 (4.2%) had a revisit within 72 h, of which 1321 (0.12%) were critical revisits. Adjusted odds ratios from multivariable logistic regression analysis indicated that higher heart rate, higher mean arterial pressure, and several lab abnormalities were associated with critical revisits. Diagnosis categories at the initial visit with the highest contribution to the likelihood of a critical revisit included "acute cerebrovascular disease" (OR: 38.00, 95%CI: 27.04-53.39), "other gastrointestinal disorders" (OR: 3.10, 95%CI: 2.41-3.99) and "residual codes; unclassified" (OR: 2.69, 95%CI: 2.01-3.60).

Critical revisits after discharge were rare in our study population, most prevalent amongst the elderly with multiple comorbidities. Future research should focus on diagnoses at higher risk of a critical revisit to develop practical approaches to follow up these patients.