Ophthalmological emergencies. An epidemiological study: Are resources been used properly?

OBJECTIVES

To determine the prevalence of ophthalmological emergency visits to two tertiary hospital in all age groups during years 2014 and 2015.

METHODS

All patients who attended Ophthalmological Emergency Department from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2015 were included in the study. The demographic variables studied were gender, age, place of origin, time of arrival, day of the week, month and year of the visit, the diagnosis, destination on discharge, total time of the visit and priority. Pathologies were categorised using codes from ICD-9, CM.

RESULTS

A total of 39,869 visits were made between 2014 and 2015. Emergency consultations were more frequent among women, on Mondays, and from April to June. The mean age of the patients was 46.24years old, and 73.42% of visits were classified as non-emergencies. The most frequent pathology was conjunctivitis (17.28%), followed by keratitis (15.31%), and vitreous detachment (5.37%). The pathology that led to more hospital admissions was orbital cellulitis (23%). The majority of patients (94.85%) were sent to their place of residence after the visit.

CONCLUSIONS

Given that the great majority of Ophthalmological Emergency visits are categorised as non-emergencies, measures need to be set up in order achieve a more effective care focused on emergency pathology without using unnecessary resources.