Turcato Gianni, Zaboli Arian, Giudiceandrea Alberto, Sibilio Serena, Magnarelli Gabriele, Rella Eleonora, Canelles Massimiliano Fanni, Pfeifer Norbert, Brigo Francesco
Emergency Department, Hospital of Merano (SABES-ASDAA), Merano-Meran, Italy.
Emergency Department, Hospital of Merano (SABES-ASDAA), Merano-Meran, Italy.
Travel Med Infect Dis. 2023 Jan-Feb;51:102491. doi: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2022.102491. Epub 2022 Nov 5.
The exponential growth of tourism worldwide could have consequences for healthcare services in tourist locations. The impact of the tourist population on access to emergency departments (EDs) is currently unknown.
To describe the characteristics of tourist access in an ED of an alpine tourist area in a period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All patients evaluated at the ED of the Merano Hospital from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2019, were considered and divided into two study groups: locals and tourists. Analyses were conducted to assess the impact of tourists in terms of weighted ED admissions and differences in admission characteristics. Finally, for tourist patients only, an analysis of severity according to their type of healthcare system of provenance was performed.
A total of 208,875 ED presentations were considered, of which 90.7% (189,406) were by local patients and 9.3% (19,469) were by tourists. The median ED admission rate was 1.65 admissions per 1000 overnight stays for locals versus 0.90 admissions per 1000 overnight stays for tourists. The time series analysis revealed a greater seasonal variation in accesses by tourists than by resident patients. A higher proportion of accesses with a severe code was found among tourist patients, while the local population exhibited a higher proportion of patients with a non-urgent code. In the tourist population, patients from a country with a free-market healthcare system had a higher number of ED presentations for severe conditions or that required hospitalisation than tourists from countries with Bismarck or Beveridge healthcare systems.
The tourist population can have an important impact on EDs in high-impact tourist areas. The seasonality of the tourist population indicates the need for health policies that focus on educating the tourist population on the correct use of the ED.
全球旅游业的指数级增长可能会对旅游目的地的医疗服务产生影响。目前尚不清楚游客群体对急诊科（ED）就诊的影响。
描述2019冠状病毒病大流行之前一个高山旅游地区急诊科的游客就诊特征。
纳入2017年1月1日至2019年12月31日在梅拉诺医院急诊科就诊的所有患者，并将其分为两个研究组：当地人和游客。进行分析以评估游客在加权急诊科入院率和入院特征差异方面的影响。最后，仅针对游客患者，根据其来源医疗体系类型进行了严重程度分析。
共考虑了208,875例急诊科就诊病例，其中90.7%（189,406例）为当地患者，9.3%（19,469例）为游客。当地患者的急诊科入院率中位数为每1000个过夜停留人次1.65次入院，而游客为每1000个过夜停留人次0.90次入院。时间序列分析显示，游客就诊的季节性变化大于常住患者。在游客患者中发现严重代码就诊的比例更高，而当地人群中代码为非紧急的患者比例更高。在游客群体中，来自实行自由市场医疗体系国家的患者因严重病情或需要住院治疗而到急诊科就诊的次数高于来自实行俾斯麦或贝弗里奇医疗体系国家的游客。
游客群体可能会对高影响力旅游地区的急诊科产生重要影响。游客群体的季节性表明需要制定健康政策，重点是对游客群体进行正确使用急诊科的教育。
