Table 1.
Comparison of patient characteristics
| All patients | Non-emergency | Included in study | |
| n | 21 779 | 1876 | 1089 |
| By region | (10917/10862) | (1005/871) | (602/487) |
| Female (%) | 51.9 (51.3–52.6) | 52.1 (49.5–54.8) | 53.3 (50.3–56.2) |
| By region | (52.1/51.8) | (50.7/53.9) | (51.8/55) |
| Age (median) | 69 (68–69) | 57 (56–60) | 61 (59–64) |
| By region | (70/67) | (61/52) | (66/57) |
| Weekday (%) | 86.1 (85.5–86.5) | 85.5 (83.9–87) | 85.6 (83.3–87.6) |
| By region | (85.9/86.3) | (84.6/86.6) | (85.5/85.6) |
| Daytime* (%) | 58.8 (58.1–59.4) | 47.9 (45.6–50.3) | 47.9 (45.1–51) |
| By region | (58.9/58.6) | (46.5/49.5) | (48.2/47.6) |
| Frequent caller (%) | 4 (3.7–4.2) | 13.7 (11.7–15.6) | 15.7 (13.5–17.8) |
| By region | (5.3/2.5) | (18.7/7.1) | (21.8/8.2) |
| Region 2 (%) | 49.9 (49.3–50.5) | 46.4 (44.1–48.9) | 44.7 (41.8–47.7) |
| By region | (0/100) | (0/100) | (0/100) |
| CDSS used (%) | 83.9 (83.4–84.4) | 60.3 (57.9–62.6) | 69.8 (66.9–72.4) |
| By region | (84.6/83.2) | (61.8/58.7) | (68.4/71.5) |
| Onward referral (%) | 4.6 (4.3–4.9) | 53.6 (51.5–55.9) | 52.3 (49.3–55.3) |
| By region | (5.6/3.6) | (61.3/44.8) | (61.8/40.7) |
| Missing/invalid PIN (%) | 9 (8.6–9.3) | 29.9 (27.8–31.9) | 0 (0–0) |
| By region | 7.9/10.1 | 26.2/34.1 | 0/0 |
This table presents descriptive statistics for all patients contacting the EMD centre during the study period, patients with a non-emergency disposition meeting the inclusion criteria for the study and the patient cohort following the application of the exclusion criteria. All statistics are presented with their bootstrapped 95% CIs. Statistics are presented for each region separately.
*Defined as between 07:00 and 17:00.
†Patients referred to the nursing advice line, alternate transport to a non-ED destination, an on-site healthcare provider, a mobile care team or the poison control centre, as compared with patients receiving advice only.
CDSS, clinical decision support system; EMD, emergency medical dispatch.