Research ArticleResearch

Estimation of unregistered patients who left without being seen

At an urban mid-sized Canadian community emergency department

Michael R.P. de la Roche, Mark Froats, Allen Bell, Lois McDonald, Craig Bolton, Rob Devins, Ryan Hall, Jonathan Leclerc, Jann Istead, Michele Miron, Martin Badowski, Tracy Steinitz, Nathan King and Priyanka Gogna
Canadian Family Physician February 2021; 67 (2) 114-120; DOI: https://doi.org/10.46747/cfp.6702114

Article Figures & Data

Figures

Tables

  • Table 1.

    Physicians in Hastings County and Prince Edward County in 2016 and 2017: Each county also had 2 walk-in clinics.

    LOCATION20162017
    SPECIALISTSFAMILY PHYSICIANSTOTALSPECIALISTSFAMILY PHYSICIANSTOTAL
    Hastings County108119227109124233
    Prince Edward County  2  26  28  4  30  34
    Total110145255113154267

    • Data from Physicians in Ontario.8,9

  • Table 2.

    Volume of unscheduled registrations in the control and study periods (July to December) and the 6 mo before the control and study periods (January to June): Scheduled visits have already been removed.

    PERIOD20162017DIFFERENCE, N% CHANGE
    Control and study
    July  3102  3446  +344+11.09
    August  3067  3395  +328+10.69
    September  2879  3155  +276  +9.59
    October  2950  3294  +344+11.66
    November  2928  3220  +292  +9.97
    December  3033  3330  +297  +9.79
    Total17 95919 840+1881+10.47
    Monthly average  2993  3307  +314+ 10.47*
    6 mo before control and study
    January  3093  2893  -200  -6.47
    February  2888  2717  -171  -5.92
    March  3072  2896  -176  -5.73
    April  2913  2947  +34  + 1.17
    May  3155  3234  +79  +2.50
    June  3000  3086  +86  +2.87
    Total18 12117 773-348  -1.92
    Monthly average  3020  2962  -58  -1.92†

    • ↵*Independent means t test comparing 2016 and 2017 July to December monthly averages was statistically significant (P < .01).

    • ↵†The difference between the 2016 and 2017 January to June monthly averages was not statistically significant.

  • Table 3.

    Patients registered and seen by CTAS level

    CTAS LEVELJUL-DEC 2016, %JUL-DEC 2017, %*
      1  1.4  1.4
      222.023.6
      348.148.0
      426.225.0
      5  2.3  2.0
    Total100.0100.0

    • CTAS—Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale.

    • ↵*Difference between groups is not statistically significant; χ2 = 1.05, P = .90.

  • Table 4.

    Number of LWBS for the control (2016) and study (2017) periods, overall and by CTAS level: There were 0 LWBS at CTAS level 1 for both years across all months.

    MONTH2016LWBS, N2017P VALUE*
    LWBS, NLWBS BY CTAS LEVEL, N (%)LWBS BY CTAS LEVEL, N (%)
    23452345
    July  27318 (6.6)129 (47.3)109 (40.0)17 (6.2)17813 (7.3)124 (69.7)  36 (20.2)  5 (2.8)< .01
    August  260  12 (4.6)120 (46.2)118 (45.4)10 (3.8)18213 (7.1)  88 (48.4)74 (40.7)  7 (3.8).60
    September  195  8 (4.1)100 (51.3)  80 (41.0)  7 (3.6)16513 (7.9)  85 (51.5)62 (37.6)  5 (3.0).47
    October  22417 (7.6)104 (46.4)  97 (43.3)  6 (2.7)15814 (8.9)70 (44.3)  68 (43.0)  6 (3.8).65
    November  21014 (6.7)  98 (46.7)  88 (41.9)10 (4.8)17324 (13.9)  86 (49.7)  54 (31.2)  9 (5.2).04
    December  25110 (4.0)138 (55.0)  93 (37.1)10 (4.0)11810 (8.5)  59 (50.0)  36 (30.5)13 (11.0).01
    Total141379 (5.6)689 (48.8)585 (41.4)60 (4.2)97487 (8.9)512 (52.6)330 (33.9)45 (4.6)< .01

    • CTAS—Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale, LWBS—patients who left without being seen.

    • ↵*P values from χ2 tests comparing the distribution of LWBS by CTAS level in 2016 and 2017.

Back to top

In this issue

Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Email Article
Citation Tools
Respond to this article
Estimation of unregistered patients who left without being seen
Michael R.P. de la Roche, Mark Froats, Allen Bell, Lois McDonald, Craig Bolton, Rob Devins, Ryan Hall, Jonathan Leclerc, Jann Istead, Michele Miron, Martin Badowski, Tracy Steinitz, Nathan King, Priyanka Gogna
Canadian Family Physician Feb 2021, 67 (2) 114-120; DOI: 10.46747/cfp.6702114
Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo

Jump to section

Subjects