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Delaying attendance at A&E departments
Nursing Standard (Royal College of Nursing (Great Britain) : 1987)
|March 3, 1993
Summary
Patients often delay visiting accident and emergency (A&E) departments due to factors like wound presence, accessibility, and condition type. Understanding illness and appraisal time helps explain these delays in seeking urgent medical care.
Area of Science:
- Health Services Research
- Patient Behavior Studies
- Emergency Medicine
Background:
- Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments are crucial for urgent care.
- Understanding patient attendance patterns is key to optimizing healthcare services.
- Patient delays in seeking A&E care can impact treatment outcomes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the reasons behind patient delays in attending A&E departments.
- To identify key factors influencing the timing of A&E visits.
- To explore the concepts of utilisation, illness, and appraisal time in patient decision-making.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative analysis of interviews with 200 A&E patients.
- Exploration of factors influencing patient decisions to attend A&E.
- Application of time-related concepts (utilisation, illness, appraisal) to understand attendance patterns.
Main Results:
- The presence of a wound significantly influences A&E attendance timing.
- Accessibility to the A&E department is a key factor in patient decisions.
- The type of medical condition plays a role in when patients seek emergency care.
- Illness time, appraisal time, and utilisation time are critical for understanding attendance delays.
Conclusions:
- Patient delays in A&E attendance are multifactorial.
- Factors beyond immediate symptom severity influence healthcare-seeking behavior.
- Further research is needed to explore related aspects of A&E utilization and patient experience.