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Use of the Accident and Emergency Department by Patients with Diabetes
Author(s) -
Holmwood K.I.,
Williams Rhys,
Roland J.M.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
diabetic medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.474
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 1464-5491
pISSN - 0742-3071
DOI - 10.1111/j.1464-5491.1992.tb01802.x
Subject(s) - medicine , diabetes mellitus , emergency department , audit , emergency medicine , accident and emergency , pediatrics , insulin , medical emergency , endocrinology , psychiatry , management , economics
As part of a District‐based audit of diabetes care all attendances (of diabetic and non‐diabetic patients) at a local Accident and Emergency department were monitored over a 3‐month period. A total of 9505 attendances took place of which 62 (0.7%) were by people with diabetes. This was no different from the expected number of attendances (61.5) based on the rates seen in non‐diabetic individuals. Of these 62 attendances, 20 (by 15 individuals) were directly related to diabetes (hypoglycaemia 17, hyperglycaemia 1, for supplies of insulin or equipment 2). When these diabetes‐specific attendances were removed from the total, the number of attendances (42) was significantly ( p = 0.004) less than that expected. Diabetic males aged 0–19 years attended significantly more often than non‐diabetic individuals of the same age but this excess was solely attributable to diabetes.