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Table 1 Patient and logistical factors as a function of emergency department length of stay

From: Independent determinants of prolonged emergency department length of stay in a tertiary care centre: a prospective cohort study

 

Total population

ED LOS ≤ 4 h

ED LOS > 4 h

N (%)

1434

1146 (80)

288 (20)

Demographics

 Age, mean (SD)

48 (26)

45 (26)

58 (21)

 Gender (male, %)

749 (52)

599 (52)

150 (52)

Referral status (%)

 Self-referral

469 (33)

400 (35)

69 (24)

 General practitioner

612 (43)

448 (39)

164 (57)

 Specialist

353 (25)

298 (26)

55 (19)

Arrival by ambulance (n, %)

484 (34)

364 (32)

120 (42)

Number of presenting complaints, median (IQR)

1 (1–1)

1 (1–1)

1 (1–2)

Triage category a (n, %) (4)

 Red

32 (2)

32 (3)

0 (0)

 Orange

371 (26)

279 (24)

92 (32)

 Yellow

682 (48)

518 (45)

164 (57)

 Green

337 (24)

305 (27)

32 (11)

 Blue

8 (1)

8 (1)

0 (0)

Number of co-morbidities, median (IQR)

1 (0–2)

1 (0–2)

2 (1–3)

CCI, median (IQR)

0 (0–0)

0 (0–1)

1 (0–2)

Triage complaint (n,%)

 Headache

16 (1)

8 (1)

8 (3)

 Dyspnoea

144 (10)

103 (9)

41 (14)

 Chest pain

114 (8)

74 (7)

40 (14)

 Palpitations

41 (3)

24 (3)

7 (2)

 Abdominal pain

135 (9)

98 (9)

37 (13)

 Malaise

274 (19)

200 (18)

74 (26)

 Small traumatic injury

323 (23)

299 (26)

24 (8)

 Syncope

43 (3)

36 (3)

7 (2)

 Other

344 (24)

294 (26)

50 (17)

Treating physician (n, %)

 ED physician

715 (50)

608 (53)

107 (37)

 Internal medicine

221 (15)

141 (12)

80 (28)

 Cardiology

117 (8)

85 (7)

32 (11)

 Surgery

71 (5)

58 (5)

13 (5)

 Neurology

78 (5)

52 (5)

26 (9)

 Other specialties

232 (16)

202 (18)

30 (10)

Diagnostic tests (n, %)

 Blood testing

916 (64)

648 (57)

268 (93)

 Urine testing

299 (21)

183 (16)

116 (40)

 Radiology imaging

686 (48)

468 (41)

218 (76)

Consultation of other specialty in ED (n, %)

366 (26)

214 (19)

152 (53)

Number of patients in ED at the time of ED registration, mean (SD)

11 (5)

11 (5)

11 (5)

Disposition (n, %) (1)

 Home

916 (64)

785 (69)

131 (46)

 Admission ward

46 (32)

317 (28)

148 (51)

 Admission ICU/MCU

46 (3)

37 (3)

9 (3)

 Otherb

6 (1)

6 (3)

0 (0)

ED LOS (min), median (IQR)

156 (98–225)

134 (87–180)

301 (270–357)

  1. Patient characteristics are presented for the total population, patients who had an ED LOS ≤ and > 4 h. Continuous data are presented as mean (SD) or median (IQR) and categorical data as number (n),%). The number of missing cases are denoted between brackets for each variable
  2. a The presented ‘triage category’ and ‘triage complaint’ were according to the Manchester Triage System (MTS)
  3. b Of the 6 patients with another final disposition, 5 patients died on the ED and 1 patients returned to the psychiatric hospital were the patient was admitted before arrival at the ED
  4. Abbreviations: CCI Charlson Comorbidity Index, ED Emergency Department, LOS Length of Stay, IC Intensive Care Unit, MCU Medium Care Unit
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Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine

ISSN: 1757-7241