[Appropriateness emergency hospital admissions at an ORL service of a third level hospital]

We present a retrospective epidemiological study about an analysis of the emergencies hospital admissions in an ENT service of a tertiary hospital with high assistencial pressure, during one year. We study the parameters: date, sex, age, complementary examinations, diagnosis and appropriateness of the admission following the AEP (Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol) criteria. A remarkable finding is the high incidence (31.74%) of emergency admissions in the total admission in the ENT service. There was a low frequency of inadequate admission of patients. The appropriateness of admissions was highest for foreign bodies and respiratory distress; the lowest was for cancer patients. The most frequent appropriateness criteria was the need of drugs and/or intravenous fluids.