Visits
to the Emergency Department Increase Nationwide
For Immediate Release
Monday, April 22, 2002
Contact: NCHS Press Office
(301) 458-4800
CDC Office of Media Relations (404) 639-3286
E-mail: paoquery@cdc.gov
National Hospital
Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2000 Emergency Department Summary. Advance
Data No. 326. 31 pp. (PHS) 2002-1250. View/download PDF 1.4 MB
The
latest national data on the use of hospital emergency departments show
that there were 108 million visits in 2000, up 14 percent from 95 million
visits in 1997. Because the number of hospitals providing emergency care
decreased from 4,005 to 3,934 between 1997 and 2000, the number of annual
visits per emergency department has increased about 16 percent since 1997,
from 24,000 to 27,000, and waiting time for non-urgent visits has increased
33 percent, according to a new report released today by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
The
most seriously ill or injured patients (with needs deemed emergent)
continue to get care about as quickly as in 2000 as in 1997. However, for
non-urgent visits, patients on average waited about 68 minutes to see the
doctor for non-urgent visits, up from 51 minutes in 1997.
The
increase in visits to the emergency department is a result of overall
population growth as well as increases in the number of seniors. Older
Americans, those 75 years of age and over, had the highest rate of
emergency department visits—65 visits per 100 persons per year—while the
national average was 39 visits per 100 persons per year.
"The
emergency department plays a critical role in our nation's health care
system, whether for treatment of a broken bone or as the first line of
defense against bio-terrorism," said David Fleming, MD, Acting
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Stomach
and abdominal pain, chest pain, and fever were the most commonly recorded
reasons for a visit to the emergency department. Since 1997, an increase
in visits with a primary diagnosis of chest pain or abdominal pain was
found for women aged 45 and over. There were 1.3 million visits due to
adverse drug reactions or other complications from medical care in 2000.
Persons
aged 15 to 24 years had the highest injury visit rate. The most frequently
recorded injury diagnoses were open wounds, 18 percent, and the most
commonly mentioned body site injured was hand, wrist and fingers, 13
percent.
CDC's
National Center for Health Statistics conducts this annual survey of
visits to the emergency department as part of its National Health Care
Survey, which also covers doctors' offices, hospitals, nursing homes,
hospices and home health care.
The
survey found that medications were used in 74 percent of all visits,
virtually unchanged from 1999. There was an average of 1.6 drugs used or
prescribed per emergency department visit. Since 1997, drug prescription
rates increased for persons 15-44 years old. Medication for pain relief
was the most frequent class of drugs administered.
The use
of the emergency department varied by age and other patient
characteristics. The African-American population used the emergency
department at a rate 67 percent higher than of the white population in
2000.
About
14 percent of patients arrived at the emergency department by ambulance.
About 16 percent of the visits were deemed to be emergent, that is, the
patient should be seen within 15 minutes of arrival; another 31 percent of
the visits were classified as urgent enough for the patient to need to see
the doctor within an hour.
About
12 percent of patients seen in the emergency department were admitted to
the hospital.
The
National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey is a national probability
survey of visits to hospital emergency departments of non-Federal,
short-stay and general hospitals in the United States. The report can be
viewed or downloaded at www.cdc.gov/nchs.
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