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Risk of hospitalisation after early‐revisit in the emergency department
Author(s) -
Cozzi Giorgio,
Ghirardo Sergio,
Fiorese Ilaria,
Proietti Ilaria,
Monasta Lorenzo,
Minute Marta,
Barbi Egidio,
Calligaris Lorenzo
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/jpc.13561
Subject(s) - medicine , triage , emergency department , retrospective cohort study , cohort , emergency medicine , pediatrics , population , cohort study , disease , environmental health , psychiatry
Aim Early‐revisits are frequent in the paediatric emergency department (ED) setting, but few data are available about early‐revisited patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the hospitalisation rate of a population of early‐revisited patients and to detect if an early‐revisited patient was at risk of a more severe disease. Methods Between June 2014 and January 2015, we conducted a retrospective cohort study, considering all patients presented to the ED of a tertiary level children's hospital in Italy. We selected all patients who were revisited within 72 h from the initial visit (study cohort), while all other patients accessed in the same period were considered the control cohort. The two cohorts were compared for age, gender, triage category, hospitalisation rate, diagnosis at admission and hospital length of stay. Results In the study period, we reviewed 10 750 visits, of which 430 (4%) were unplanned revisits for the same chief complaint within 72 h from the initial visit. Hospitalisation rate of early‐revisited patients was significantly higher compared to control patients (8.4 vs. 2.9%). Hospitalisation rate increases in parallel with the number of revisits, but in many cases, it was not directly related to a worst triage category, neither to a longer hospital length of stay. Conclusion Early revisited patients in the ED had a significantly higher risk of hospitalisation, but this risk was only partially related to their clinical conditions.