Department of Emergency Medicine, Konya City Hospital, Karatay, Konya, Türkiye.
PLoS One. 2024 Jul 24;19(7):e0307540. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0307540. eCollection 2024.
Unidentified patients present a medical information dilemma for all medical departments but can be a major problem in Emergency Departments (EDs). This study aimed to determine the clinical and socio-demographic profile of 'unidentified' patients admitted to the ED with altered consciousness and to define the outcomes of these patients. All ED presentations were analyzed retrospectively for the unidentified patients brought to the hospital by ambulance with altered consciousness. We assessed demographic data, clinical presentation, discharge information, and major clinical outcomes. In this study, 1324 unidentified patients were admitted with altered consciousness to the ED. Of these, 1048 (80.1%) were foreign nationals. In this patient group, the most common diagnoses were; traffic accidents, assault or sharp object injuries, drug addicts, or syncope-epilepsy. In addition, the number of patients who left the hospital without permission or escaped and therefore could not be diagnosed was higher in the foreign nationalities group and constituted approximately one-fifth of the patients (18.9% vs. 5.4%, p:0.001). Of the unidentified patients, 903 (68.2%) were discharged after treatment. 351 (26.5%) patients left the ED unattended. 32 (2.4%) patients were hospitalized. 38 (2.9%) patients died in ED. The majority of the unidentified patients admitted to the ED with altered consciousness were immigrant males. Unidentified patients are a high-need population, most commonly presenting with substance misuse or trauma. Although most of the patients were seeking urgent treatment, more than one-fourth of the patients left the hospital without appropriate treatment and most of these patients were also immigrants. We believe that economic, linguistic, and social disadvantages played an important role in this outcome.
身份不明的患者给所有医疗部门都带来了医疗信息方面的困境，但在急诊科（ED）可能是一个主要问题。本研究旨在确定因意识改变而被送入 ED 的“身份不明”患者的临床和社会人口学特征，并定义这些患者的结局。所有因意识改变而被救护车送入医院的 ED 就诊者均进行回顾性分析。我们评估了人口统计学数据、临床表现、出院信息和主要临床结局。在这项研究中，1324 名因意识改变而被送入 ED 的身份不明患者被纳入研究。其中 1048 名（80.1%）为外国公民。在该患者群体中，最常见的诊断是交通事故、攻击或锐器伤、吸毒者或晕厥-癫痫。此外，在外国国籍群体中，未经许可离开医院或逃跑而无法诊断的患者人数更高，约占患者的五分之一（18.9%比 5.4%，p：0.001）。在身份不明的患者中，903 名（68.2%）经治疗后出院。351 名（26.5%）患者无人陪伴离开 ED。32 名（2.4%）患者住院。38 名（2.9%）患者在 ED 死亡。因意识改变而被送入 ED 的身份不明患者大多数是移民男性。身份不明的患者是高需求人群，最常见的表现是药物滥用或创伤。尽管大多数患者都在寻求紧急治疗，但超过四分之一的患者未经适当治疗离开医院，其中大多数也是移民。我们认为，经济、语言和社会劣势在这一结果中发挥了重要作用。
