Abstract
Misuse of accident and emergency (A&E) departments is a problem throughout the world. Staffing A&E departments with general practitioners has been reported as successful in a few prospective studies. A medical audit of all A&E charts during one week was carried out. The audit-panel included two orthopaedic surgeons and two general practitioners. The charts were divided in two groups: 1) true A&E cases, 2) inappropiate A&E users, who should have visited the general practitioners' acute consultation instead. There was substantial agreement between audit-panel groups that 57% of attenders could visit the general practitioner instead. Ten percent of attenders received no treatment in the A&E department, but were transferred to other departments within the hospital. It is concluded that two-thirds of the A&E department attenders could have visited the general practitioners instead, for treatment or for referral to the relevant hospital department.
| Translated title of the contribution | Many patients treated in the accident and emergency department could be treated by the GP on call |
|---|---|
| Original language | Danish |
| Journal | Ugeskrift for Laeger |
| Volume | 161 |
| Issue number | 33 |
| Pages (from-to) | 4624-4627 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| ISSN | 0041-5782 |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Aug 1999 |
| Externally published | Yes |