Analysis of the surgical activity in an emergency department of a medium-sized Belgian hospital.

The author makes a descriptive analysis of the population and the pathology met from a surgical point of view in an emergency department of a medium-sized Belgian hospital (+/- 550 beds). The quality of health care is also analysed. Finally, the author makes several proposals to try solving the problem of a continuously enlarging workload due to a high percentage of non urgent calls at emergency departments in developed countries.