Abstract
BackgroundDue to the increasing number of non-urgent visits to emergency departments, it is becoming increasingly important to also investigate emergency care in out-of-hours (OOH) primary care. The aim of this study was to provide an insight into the care structures of an OOH primary care centre, to evaluate the reasons for encounter (RFE) and to assess the urgency of the treatment from the physicians´ point of view.MethodsIn the summer of 2017, we conducted a cross-sectional study over four weeks in the OOH primary care centre of Oldenburg, a city in Lower Saxony with about 160,000 inhabitants. We collected socio-demographic data, RFE and the duration of the complaints. The International Classification for Primary Care 2nd Edition (ICPC-2) was used to categorize symptoms. The attending physicians supplemented information on further treatment (including hospitalization) and the urgency of consultation in the OOH primary care centre.ResultsA total of 892 of the 1098 OOH patients which were visiting the OOH primary care centre took part in the study (participation: 81.2%). More than half of the patients were between 18 and 39 years old. A quarter of all RFE named by study participants were in the ICPC-2 category “skin”. More than 60% of patients had the symptoms for more than two days before visiting the OOH primary care centre. In 34.5% of all cases no medication was prescribed and one in six patients received further diagnostic tests such as urinalysis and blood tests (15.8%). From the physicians’ point of view, 26.3% of all study participants could have been treated by the family doctor during the regular consultation hours.ConclusionThe study shows that in the OOH primary care centre about a quarter of all patients could have waited until regular consultation hours. Mostly young patients used the easily accessible and free care in the OOH primary care centre. Further studies are necessary to better understand the individual reasons of patients to use the OOH primary care centre.
Highlights
Due to the increasing number of non-urgent visits to emergency departments, it is becoming increasingly important to investigate emergency care in out-of-hours (OOH) primary care
A total of 29 different physicians worked in the OOH primary care centre during the study period, all of them were general practitioners (GP) or internists
This study provides a comprehensive insight into the work and medical care of an urban OOH primary care centre
Summary
Due to the increasing number of non-urgent visits to emergency departments, it is becoming increasingly important to investigate emergency care in out-of-hours (OOH) primary care. According to a survey of the German society for interdisciplinary emergency and acute medicine (DGINA) one third of all patients in the surveyed EDs could have been treated by general practitioners (GP) [6]. Such inappropriate emergency hospital visits could better be treated by GPs and specialists in outpatient practices or in out-of-hours (OOH) primary care, depending on weekday and time of day. All three sectors involved are free of charge (i.e. accessible without any co-payment) and obliged to treat any patient at any time
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
