Table 2: Characteristics of the study population.
| Variable | No. of patients (%)* n = 14 907 |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Patient characteristics |
||
| Age, yr; mean ± SD |
65.2 ± 15.9 |
|
| Male |
7 942 |
(53.3) |
| Income quintile |
||
| 1 |
2 491 |
(16.7) |
| 2 |
2 893 |
(19.4) |
| 3 |
2 913 |
(19.5) |
| 4 |
3 198 |
(21.5) |
| 5 |
3 412 |
(22.9) |
| Rural residence |
2 088 |
(14.0) |
| Long-term care or nursing home residence |
248 |
(1.7) |
| Immigrant |
1 195 |
(8.0) |
| Past medical history |
||
| Hypertension, recent diagnosis (in the last yr) |
419 |
(2.8) |
| Hypertension, diagnosis made before the last 1 yr |
8 699 |
(58.4) |
| Heart failure, recent diagnosis (in the last yr) |
225 |
(1.5) |
| Heart failure, diagnosis made before the last 1 yr |
787 |
(5.3) |
| Acute myocardial infarction |
2 156 |
(14.5) |
| Coronary artery disease |
1 726 |
(11.6) |
| Coronary artery bypass graft |
361 |
(2.4) |
| Stroke |
541 |
(3.6) |
| Diabetes mellitus |
2 896 |
(19.4) |
| Dementia |
550 |
(3.7) |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease |
2 426 |
(16.3) |
| Asthma |
2 014 |
(13.5) |
| Renal failure |
527 |
(3.5) |
| Nonmetastatic cancer |
1 895 |
(12.7) |
| Metastatic cancer |
252 |
(1.7) |
| CHADS2 score ≥ 2 |
5 830 |
(39.1) |
| ADG score, mean ± SD |
9.9 ± 4.2 |
|
|
Emergency department visit characteristics |
||
| Emergency department triage score (1 = highest acuity) |
||
| 1 or 2 |
9 916 |
(66.5) |
| 3 |
4 991 |
(33.5) |
| No. of patients who arrived by ambulance |
4 074 |
(27.3) |
| Time of day patient presented to emergency department | ||
| 00:00–07:59 |
2 872 |
(19.3) |
| 08:00–15:59 |
7 640 |
(51.3) |
| 16:00–23:59 |
4 395 |
(29.5) |
| Day of week patient presented to emergency department | ||
| Weekday |
11 492 |
(77.1) |
| Weekend |
3 415 |
(22.9) |
| Emergency department physician, sex |
||
| Unknown |
1 895 |
(12.7) |
| Female |
2 581 |
(17.3) |
| Male |
10 431 |
(70.0) |
| Emergency department physician, specialty |
||
| Emergency medicine (3-yr program) |
5 875 |
(39.4) |
| Emergency medicine (5-yr program) |
1 962 |
(13.2) |
| Family medicine |
3 832 |
(25.7) |
| Other |
1 345 |
(9.0) |
| Unknown |
1 893 |
(12.7) |
| Emergency department physician, no. of years of practice; yr | ||
| 0–3 |
1 900 |
(12.7) |
| 4–10 |
3 686 |
(24.7) |
| 11–20 |
4 219 |
(28.3) |
| > 20 |
3 159 |
(21.2) |
| Unknown |
1 943 |
(13.0) |
| Hospital type |
||
| Community |
11 285 |
(75.7) |
| Small |
836 |
(5.6) |
| Teaching |
2 786 |
(18.7) |
|
Family physician characteristics |
||
| Family physician, sex |
||
| Female |
3 804 |
(25.5) |
| Male |
10 333 |
(69.3) |
| Unknown |
770 |
(5.2) |
| Family physician, main specialty |
||
| Family medicine |
13 981 |
(93.8) |
| Emergency medicine |
146 |
(1.0) |
| Unknown |
780 |
(5.2) |
| Family physician, no. of years of practice; yr |
||
| 0–5 |
542 |
(3.6) |
| 6–10 |
901 |
(6.0) |
| 11–15 |
1 353 |
(9.1) |
| > 15 |
11 329 |
(76.0) |
| Unknown |
782 |
(5.2) |
| No. of patients with a family physician |
14 146 |
(94.9) |
| Family physician’s model type |
||
| CCM† or FHG‡ |
6 613 |
(44.4) |
| FHN§ with FHT |
692 |
(4.6) |
| FHN§ without FHT |
315 |
(2.1) |
| FHO¶ with FHT |
2 271 |
(15.2) |
| FHO¶ without FHT |
3 189 |
(21.4) |
| FFS** |
1 066 |
(7.2) |
| Family physician belongs to an FHT | 2 963 | (19.9) |
Note: ADG = aggregated diagnosis group, CCM = comprehensive care model, CHADS2 = cardiac failure, hypertension, age, diabetes, stroke system, FFS = fee for service, FHG = family health group, FHN = family health network, FHO = family health organization, FHT = family health team, SD = standard deviation. *Unless otherwise specified. †Primarily fee for service, < 3 physicians. ‡Primarily fee for service, ≥ 3 physicians. §Primarily capitation, small basket of services. ¶Primarily capitation, large basket of services. **Traditional fee for service.