Perspectives of ambulatory patients visiting the emergency department during the Christmas and New Year holiday period: Descriptive survey

Alexander K. Leung; Damiano Loricchio; Robert J. Brison; Karen Graham

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Table 1.

Characteristics of study participants

DESCRIPTOR	HOLIDAY SURGE (N = 1638)	NONHOLIDAY PERIOD (N = 642)
Mean (SD) age,^{^*} y	42.9 (24.5)	40.3 (21.3)
Sex,^† n (%)
• Male	699 (42.7)	266 (41.4)
• Female	905 (55.3)	360 (56.1)
Mean (SD) patients per day	284.3 (14.8)	268.3 (21.4)
No. of patients by CTAS score,^ǂ n (%)
• 2	122 (7.4)	27 (4.2)
• 3	617 (37.7)	291 (45.3)
• 4	793 (48.4)	294 (45.8)
• 5	68 (4.2)	30 (4.7)
Presenting patient complaint,^§ n (%)
• Cardiovascular	91 (5.6)	37 (5.8)
• Ear, nose, and throat	218 (13.3)	50 (7.8)
• Environmental	0 (0.0)	1 (0.1)
• Gastrointestinal	162 (9.9)	74 (11.5)
• Genitourinary	83 (5.1)	34 (5.3)
• Mental health	10 (0.6)	3 (0.4)
• Neurologic	91 (5.6)	57 (8.9)
• Obstetric-gynecologic	31 (1.9)	15 (2.3)
• Ophthalmologic	50 (3.1)	23 (3.6)
• Orthopedic	367 (22.4)	154 (24.0)
• Respiratory	189 (11.5)	40 (6.2)
• Skin	134 (8.2)	77 (12.0)
• Substance misuse	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)
• Trauma	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)
• General and minor	203 (12.4)	65 (10.1)

CTAS—Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale.
↵* Data missing for 39 participants.
↵† Data missing for 50 participants.
↵ǂ Data missing for 38 participants.
↵§ Data missing for 21 participants.

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Table 2.

Participant responses to whether they contacted an HCP for their medical problem before visiting an acute care service

RESPONSE	HOLIDAY SURGE (N = 1638), N (%)	NONHOLIDAY PERIOD (N = 642), N (%)	*P VALUE^{^}**
Yes, contacted GP	358 (21.9)	172 (26.8)	.012
Yes, contacted specialist	46 (2.8)	9 (1.4)	.05
Yes, called telehealth	50 (3.1)	21 (3.3)	.79
Yes, used walk-in clinic	34 (2.1)	25 (3.9)	.014
No, decided to come in by self	1112 (67.9)	402 (62.6)	.016
No, told to return by emergency physician	38 (2.3)	13 (2.0)	.67

HCP—health care provider.
↵* Level of significance at P < .0083 after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons.

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Table 3.

Responses of those participants who chose to attend the acute care service on their own explaining why they decided to seek an acute care service for their medical complaint

RESPONSE	HOLIDAY SURGE (N = 1112), N (%)	NONHOLIDAY PERIOD (N = 402), N (%)	*P VALUE^{^}**
Most convenient place	262 (23.6)	84 (20.9)	.28
Problem is urgent and cannot wait for GP	596 (53.6)	199 (49.5)	.16
Problem is not urgent, but this is the only place that can provide the care I need	181 (16.3)	82 (20.4)	.06
No GP	73 (6.6)	37 (9.2)	.08

↵* Level of significance at P < .0125 after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons.

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Table 4.

Participant responses to whether a GP could have treated their medical problem

RESPONSE	HOLIDAY SURGE (N = 1638), N (%)	NONHOLIDAY PERIOD (N = 642), N (%)	*P VALUE^{^}**
Yes, if I could get an appointment today	610 (37.2)	215 (33.5)	.09
Yes, if I could get an appointment within 24–48 h	78 (4.8)	55 (8.6)	< .0125
Yes, if I could get an appointment within the week	40 (2.4)	26 (4.0)	.04
No	910 (55.6)	346 (53.9)	.47