The 1980 patient urgency study: further analysis of the data

The patient urgency study was a comprehensive nationwide evaluation of patient and physician perceptions of the urgency of need for medical care. Half of the patients in the study were between the ages of 13 and 21. The necessity for immediate care, specifically emergency department care, and admission varied proportionately with increasing age. There was little variation in patient volume by day of the week, although the 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM shift was demonstrably the busiest; the midnight to 8:00 AM shift, however, had proportionately more sick patients. Sixty percent of the patients came to the ED because they believed that they had an emergency problem; 62% of patients had a personal physician. The average number of patients admitted in the ED population was 12.5%, with a range of 4.1% to 22.9%. ED residents underestimated the urgency of need for medical care 6.7% of the time, in comparison with only 3.7% for career emergency physicians. Physicians noted that 7.4% of patients who left without being seen initially required immediate care.