Proportion and Reasons to the Accessibility of Non-urgent Adult Patients in Non-official hours at Emergency Room, District Hospital, Thailand
Keywords:
Non-urgent patients, Emergency room, Non-official hoursAbstract
The objective of this cross-sectional descriptive study was to analyze the proportion and the reasons for the accessibility of non-urgent patients in non-official hours under the context of community hospitals to use the obtained information to develop the emergency room system and patients care. The samples were 750 patients aged 18 years and over received services at the emergency room at Phon Thong Hospital, Roiet province in non-official hours. The research tool was a self-report questionnaire. The results found that 750 patients receiving services at the emergency room, 169 of them were non-urgent patients (22.5%, 95% CI 19.54 - 25.53). The most common three reasons for patients to receive the services were unconfident feeling in their self-first aid (71.3%), concern about the severity of symptoms (69.2%), and convenience of services (69.2%). The number of non-urgent patients and the reasons for receiving services were different depending on the context of each hospital. However, providing a clinic during non-official hours for non-emergency care will help reduce congestion in emergency wards and improve the quality of care for urgent patients.
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