Department of Emergency Medicine, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, 170 Hyeonchung-ro, Nam-gu, Daegu, 42415, Republic of Korea.
BMC Palliat Care. 2022 Apr 21;21(1):54. doi: 10.1186/s12904-022-00946-z.
There have been several reports of patients with cancer visiting the Emergency Department (ED) rather than the outpatient department of their oncologist. In this study, we aimed to analyze the chief complaints, visit time, and time spent in the ED between study groups of patients with cancer visiting the ED. This finding will help medical staff provide better care for patients with cancer and reduce time spent in the ED.
A total of 787 patients with cancer visited the Regional Emergency Medical Center between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020. After the exclusion criterion such as patients who were transferred to the ED with a referral issued slip, patients who were pregnant women or minors under the age of 18 were applied, data from 607 patients with cancer were collected retrospectively from electronic medical records at the hospital. The participating patients with cancer were divided into two groups: 1) ED group-those who were cared for by the ED physician and 2) Referral group-those who were referred to their oncologist for hospitalization.
We found that 40% of the total patients with cancer included in the study visited the ED with a chief complaint of pain. It was observed that the highest frequency of visits to the ED was around noon during clinic hours. The length of ED stay was 169 and 566 min for the ED and referral groups, respectively.
It would be more beneficial for patients with cancer visiting the ED to be quickly discharged from the ED physician's active care for their symptoms. This usage of ED services will reduce unnecessary waiting time.
已有数份报告显示，癌症患者选择前往急诊科（ED）而非肿瘤专科门诊就诊。在本研究中，我们旨在分析癌症患者因不同原因前往 ED 的主要诉求、就诊时间及 ED 逗留时间。这一发现将有助于医务人员为癌症患者提供更好的护理，并减少 ED 逗留时间。
2020 年 1 月 1 日至 12 月 31 日期间，共有 787 名癌症患者前往区域急诊医疗中心就诊。排除通过转介单转入 ED 的患者、孕妇和 18 岁以下未成年人后，我们从医院电子病历中回顾性收集了 607 名癌症患者的数据。将入组的癌症患者分为两组：1）ED 组——由 ED 医生治疗的患者；2）转介组——转介至肿瘤专科医生处住院的患者。
我们发现，研究中纳入的癌症患者中有 40%以疼痛为主诉就诊于 ED。就诊高峰期为上午的门诊时间，ED 就诊最频繁。ED 组和转介组在 ED 的逗留时间分别为 169 分钟和 566 分钟。
对于因症状前往 ED 的癌症患者，由 ED 医生积极治疗并尽快出院，对患者更为有利。这样可以减少不必要的等待时间，合理利用 ED 服务。
