A Model to Reduce Cold cases in Emergency Room - A prospective observational study in Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Overcrowding in Emergency Department is a major problem in every hospital; worsen by shortage of nurses and physicians. Overcrowding of cold cases illnesses may contribute to an inability to triage and treat patients in a timely manner as well as increased number of patients leaving the emergency department without being examined.  It reduces the morale among healthcare professional and may make violence in emergency department. The objective of this is to reduce crowding of cold cases illness by improving the quality and efficiency of emergency care and setting the quality plan for the triage, or sorting to help in determining the severity of the real emergency cases and cold cases illness to see which cases must be seen by the physician directly and to plan an access to the other cold cases to get their treatment or their appointment as well as rising public awareness to avoid this overcrowding by cold cases illness. A prospective observational study at Al Namas General Hospital in Emergency Department by observing and recording all emergency cases visits in one week period of time on 24 hours daily operational work. The major findings showed that the average percentage of cold cases per day was 63.3 % while the real emergency cases fall at 46.7%.  Patient with upper respiratory tract infection have the most cold cases illness as 36.7% then gastroenteritis at 25.6% and others at 0.6% (UTI, headache, abdominal pain, etc).