Table 1.
Patient characteristics
| Self-referrals ( n = 3,028) | Non-self-referrals ( n = 1,975) | |
|---|---|---|
| Age [mean (SD)] (years) |
32.3 (18.6) |
48.5 (22.1) |
| Age categories [n (%)] (years) |
|
|
| 0 to 15 |
543 (17.9) |
107 (5.4) |
| 16 to 35 |
1,310 (43.3) |
512 (25.9) |
| 36 to 55 |
783 (25.9) |
590 (29.9) |
| 56 to 75 |
343 (11.3) |
501 (25.4) |
| >75 |
49 (1.6) |
265 (13.4) |
| Sex, male [n (%)] |
1,636 (54.0) |
951 (48.2) |
| Urgent acuity levela [n (%)] |
1,174 (38.8) |
1,281 (64.8) |
| No triage [n (%)] |
151 (5.0) |
123 (6.2) |
| Chief complaint [n (%)] |
|
|
| Limb problems |
898 (29.7) |
266 (13.5) |
| Wounds and local infections and abscesses |
396 (13.1) |
153 (7.7) |
| Eye/ear/nose problems and sore throat |
216 (7.1) |
33 (1.7) |
| Headache and head injury |
119 (3.9) |
97 (4.9) |
| Shortness of breath |
85 (2.8) |
141 (7.1) |
| Abdominal pain |
302 (10.0) |
262 (13.3) |
| Chest pain |
203 (6.7) |
191 (9.7) |
| Patient feeling unwell |
102 (3.4) |
191 (9.7) |
| Psychiatric problem |
21 (0.7) |
54 (2.7) |
| Other |
686 (22.7) |
587 (29.7) |
| Injury [n (%)] |
1,476 (48.7) |
386 (19.5) |
| Time of registration during office hours [n (%)] |
990 (32.7) |
1,073 (54.3) |
| Diagnostic tests performedb [n (%)] |
1,461 (48.2) |
1,522 (77.1) |
| Follow-up care [n (%)] |
|
|
| Discharge without follow-up appointment |
1,363 (45.0) |
396 (20.1) |
| Hospital admission |
207 (6.8) |
667 (33.8) |
| Discharge, appointment with specialist care |
822 (27.1) |
704 (35.6) |
| Left the ED without being seen by a professional |
37 (1.2) |
24 (1.2) |
| Referred to children's hospital |
49 (1.6) |
4 (0.2) |
| Discharge, appointment with GP |
550 (18.2) |
180 (9.1) |
| Suffering from an extremity fracture |
336 (11.1) |
204 (10.3) |
| Needing hospital emergency carec | 1,539 (50.8) | 1,597 (80.9) |
SD, standard deviation. aUrgent, very urgent or immediate. bIncludes blood analysis, EKG, X-rays, CT-scan, MRI, ultrasound and lumbar puncture. cHospital admission and/or suffering from an extremity fracture and/or diagnostic tests performed. All differences in patient characteristics in relation to type of referral were significant at the p < 0.01 level, except for ‘no triage’ (p = 0.06), ‘left the ED without being seen (p = 0.98)’ and ‘suffering from an extremity fracture’ (p = 0.39).