Primary care patients in the emergency department: who are they? A review of the definition of the 'primary care patient' in the emergency department.
Emerg Med Australas
; 17(5-6): 472-9, 2005.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-16302940
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To review the definition of 'primary care' and 'inappropriate' patients in ED and develop a generally acceptable working definition of a 'primary care' presentation in ED.METHOD:
A Medline review of articles on primary care in ED and the definitions used.RESULTS:
A total of 34 reviewed papers contained a proposed definition or comment on the definition for potential 'primary care', 'general practice', or 'inappropriate' patients in ED. A representative definition was developed premised on the common factors in these papers low urgency/acuity--triage categories four or five in the Australasian Triage Scale, self-referred--by definition, patients referred by general practitioner/community primary medical services are not primary care cases because a primary care service has referred them on, presenting for a new episode of care (i.e. not a planned return because planned returns are not self-referred), unlikely to be admitted (in the opinion of Emergency Nurse interviewers) or ultimately not admitted.DISCUSSION:
This definition can be applied either prospectively or retrospectively, depending on the purpose. Appropriateness must be considered in light of a legitimate role for ED in primary care and the balance of resources between primary care and emergency medicine in local settings.
Buscar no Google
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Atenção Primária à Saúde
/
Serviço Hospitalar de Emergência
/
Terminologia como Assunto
País/Região como assunto:
America do norte
/
Europa
/
Oceania
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2005
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Austrália