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Implementation of a hospital-integrated general practice - a successful way to reduce the burden of inappropriate emergency-department use

Chmiel, Corinne; Wang, Mathyas; Sidler, Patrick; Eichler, Klaus; Rosemann, Thomas; Senn, Oliver (2016). Implementation of a hospital-integrated general practice - a successful way to reduce the burden of inappropriate emergency-department use. Swiss Medical Weekly, 146:w14284.

Abstract

PRINCIPLES
Emergency departments (EDs) are overcrowded by lower acuity patients, which might be more efficiently treated by general practitioners (GPs). This study evaluated the impact of triaging lower acuity patients to a new hospital-integrated general practice (HGP) on ED case-load and the reasons for choosing the ED/HGP.
METHODS AND RESULTS
Patients were consecutively assessed according to the emergency severity index (ESI) to triage lower acuity patients to the HGP. Consultation numbers at the emergency centre (ED and HGP) increased by 43% between 2007 (n = 16 974) and 2011 (n = 24 331) (implementation of HGP in 2009). Although self-referrals increased significantly at the emergency centre from 54% to 63% (p <0.001), the proportion of self-referrals at the ED was significantly reduced to 48% (p = 0.007). The HGP was able to reduce the burden of increasing total consultations by 36%; 4.6% were referred back to the ED after triaging to the HGP. Overall, 95% of HGP patients were self-referred, Swiss nationals (65%) and with a personal GP (82%) they attended regularly (69%). The most common reason for presenting at the emergency centre was not being able to reach the GP (60%). Diagnoses were injury- (29%) and infection- (23%) related problems affecting the musculoskeletal (27%) system and skin (21%).
CONCLUSION
The HGP succeeded in reducing the burden of inappropriate ED use: the majority of low acuity self-referred patients were conclusively treated at the HGP. The HGP does not represent competition to the GP out-of-hours care service, since the main reason for presenting at the hospital was not lacking a relationship but the GPs' inaccessibility.

Additional indexing

Item Type:Journal Article, refereed, original work
Communities & Collections:04 Faculty of Medicine > University Hospital Zurich > Institute of General Practice
Dewey Decimal Classification:610 Medicine & health
Scopus Subject Areas:Health Sciences > General Medicine
Language:English
Date:2016
Deposited On:14 Jul 2016 07:33
Last Modified:15 Oct 2024 01:40
Publisher:SMW supporting association
ISSN:1424-3997
OA Status:Gold
Free access at:Publisher DOI. An embargo period may apply.
Publisher DOI:https://doi.org/10.4414/smw.2016.14284
PubMed ID:26963904
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