Patient Returns to the Emergency Department: The Time-to-Return Curve

Abstract

Though 72-hour emergency department (ED) revisits are increasingly used as a hospital metric, there is no clear basis for this 72-hour threshold. Identification of which patients are at greatest risk of ED revisits and the time distribution of these revisits will help providers to better risk-stratify patients at the time of ED discharge. The primary objective of this study was to determine the timing of ED revisits taking place within 30 days of a prior ED discharge for all adult patients.