Table 3.
Patients non-transported with 72 h ED attendance and patients initially assessed to hospital at first EMS contact
| ED attendance within 72 h | Initially assessed to hospital | P | |
|---|---|---|---|
| n = 126 | n = 5340 | ||
| Age – median year (25th,75th percentile) | 64 (36,82) | 68 (44,83) | 0.247 |
| Sex – n (%) | 0.787 | ||
| Female | 67 (53.2) | 2763 (51.7) | |
| Mode of transport – n (%) | < 0.001 | ||
| Ambulance | 55 (44.4) | 4979 (93.2) | |
| By own transportation | 57 (45.2) | 41 (0.8) | |
| Patient transport | 12 (9.5) | 141 (2.6) | |
| Seated transport | 2(1.6) | 159 (3.0) | |
| Police | 0 (0.0) | 20 (0.4) | |
| Dispatcher priority - n (%) (66,26)a | < 0.001 | ||
| Priority 1 | 18 (30.0) | 2659 (50.0) | |
| Priority 2 | 37 (61.7) | 2444 (46.0) | |
| Priority 3 | 5 (8.3) | 211 (4.0) | |
| Medical history – n (%)b | |||
| Diseases of the circulatory system I00-I99 | 110 (27.3) | 5250 (29.3) | 0.376 |
| Mental and behavioural disorders F00-F99 | 92 (22.8) | 3024 (16.9) | 0.002 |
| Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue M00-M99 | 37 (9.2) | 1212 (6.8) | 0.067 |
| Endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases E00-E89 | 28 (6.9) | 1583 (8.8) | 0.216 |
| Diseases of the digestive system K00-K95 | 25 (6.2) | 1055 (5.9) | 0.761 |
| No medical history | 19 (15.1) | 658 (12.3) | 0.339 |
| Prehospital field assessent according to RETTS-Ac – n (%)d | 1st assessment / 2nd assessment | ||
| Unspecific condition, malaise | 20 (20.2) / 12 (20.1) | 349 (6.7) | < 0.001 |
| Respiratory distress/dyspnoa/breathing difficulties | 13 (14.9) / 8 (13.4) | 454 (8.8) | 0.055 |
| Abdominal/flank pain | 9 (10.3) / 8 (13.4) | 535 (10.3) | 1.000 |
| Chest thoracic pain | 5 (5.7) / 1 (1.7) | 512 (9.9) | 0.273 |
| Nausea/vomiting | 4 (3.2) / 0 (0.0) | 43 (0.8) | 0.022 |
| Missing field assessment | 39 (31.0) / 2 (3.3) | 161 (3.0) | < 0.001 |
| Prehospital triage level according to RETTS-A – n (%) (39 / 2, 172)e | 1st triage / 2nd triage | < 0.001 | |
| Red | 2 (2.3) / 6 (10.0) | 597 (11.6) | |
| Orange | 3 (3.4) / 15 (25.0) | 1854 (35.9) | |
| Yellow | 33 (37.9) / 31 (51.7) | 2254 (43.6) | |
| Green | 49 (56.3) / 6 (10.0) | 463 (9.0) | |
| Management ED – n (%) (0, 14)f | |||
| Admitted to in-patient care | 58 (46.0) | 2631 (49.4) | 0.472 |
| Extended examination/interventiong | 22 (17.5) | 774 (14.5) | 0.371 |
| Lab, drug administration, prescription | 32 (25.4) | 1412 (26.5) | 0.839 |
| Clinical examination/observation only | 7 (5.6) | 275 (5.2) | 0.837 |
| Patient managed by ED nurse, referral to primary care | 3 (2.4) | 54 (1.0) | 0.144 |
| Patient leaves without being seen or against medical advice | 4 (3.2) | 180 (3.4) | 1.000 |
| Days of in-patient care – n | |||
| Mean (SD) | 8.7 (8.8) | 8.1 (9.5) | 0.641 |
| Median (25th,75th percentile) | 5.5 (2.8,12) | 5 (2,11) | 0.633 |
| Final hospital assessment, ICD-10h – n (%) (11, 344)f | |||
| Symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings R00-R99 | 24 (20.9) | 971 (19.4) | 0.721 |
| Injury, poisoning and certain other consequnces of external causes S00-S99, T00-T98 | 15 (13.0) | 928 (18.6) | 0.145 |
| Mental and behavioural disorders F00-F99 | 14 (12.2) | 423 (8.5) | 0.174 |
| Diseases of the circulatory system I00-I99 | 12 (10.4) | 635 (12.7) | 0.570 |
| Disesases of the respiratory system J00-J99 | 7 (6.1) | 418 (8.4) | 0.494 |
| Time-critical diagnosis (11,344)f | 12 (10.4) | 551 (11.0) | 1.000 |
| Deranged clinical signs/occurrence of complications within 48 hi | 7 (5.6) | 537 (10.1) | 0.099 |
| All-cause mortality - n (%) | |||
| ≤ 7 days | 2 (1.8) | 111 (2.1) | 0.702 |
| ≤ 30 days | 5 (4.0) | 243 (4.6) | 0.756 |
| ≤ 365 days | 20 (15.9) | 804 (15.1) | 0.800 |
aSecondary dispatch priority for ED attendance within 72 h, n = 66 missing for patients transported by other means and n = 26 assignments missing dispatch priority
bThe five most common medical history ICD-10 chapters, a patient can have more than one diagnosis
cThe five most common EMS field assessments
dP values calculated on first assessment of ED attendance within 72 h group and initially assessed to hospital
eMissing triage level for first assessment, second assement and patients initially assessed to hospital
fMissing in each group respectively
gX-ray, computed tomography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance, lumbar puncture, suturing, proctoscopy
hThe five most common final hospital ICD-10 chapters
iOccurrence of life-threatening events in ambulance, ED or ward within 48 h