Mistry Rakesh D, Brousseau David C, Alessandrini Evaline A
Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Pediatr Emerg Care. 2008 Dec;24(12):870-4. doi: 10.1097/PEC.0b013e31818fa79d.
Across the United States, emergency departments (EDs) are plagued by overcrowding and its deleterious effects. Consequently, investigators have attempted to identify a subset of nonurgent patients who could potentially be managed in alternative settings to help alleviate the burden of overcrowding. Previous authors have used several methods to define ED visit urgency; however, the lack of a single valid method has resulted in widely variable estimates of nonurgent ED use. Accurate identification of nonurgent ED visits is necessary to compare nonurgent populations across health care settings and design safe, effective interventions aimed at reducing ED overcrowding. In this paper, we review the currently used methods for the classification of ED visit urgency, discuss the implications of measurement of ED urgency for health care stakeholders, and suggest future directions for the feasible, practical measurement of ED urgency.
在美国，急诊科饱受过度拥挤及其有害影响的困扰。因此，研究人员试图确定一部分非紧急患者，这些患者有可能在其他场所得到处理，以帮助减轻过度拥挤的负担。此前的作者已经使用了几种方法来定义急诊就诊的紧迫性；然而，由于缺乏单一有效的方法，导致对非紧急急诊就诊的估计差异很大。准确识别非紧急急诊就诊对于比较不同医疗环境中的非紧急人群以及设计旨在减少急诊科过度拥挤的安全、有效干预措施至关重要。在本文中，我们回顾了目前用于急诊就诊紧迫性分类的方法，讨论了急诊紧迫性测量对医疗保健利益相关者的影响，并提出了未来可行、实用的急诊紧迫性测量方向。
