Evaluation of Patients Applying the Pediatric Emergency Department of a Public Hospital

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed at evaluating the patients aged between 0-18 who applied to the pediatric emergency department of a public hospital.
Method: The study was carried out retrospectively in the pediatric emergency department of Ağrı Gynecologic and Pediatric Diseases Hospital between the dates of 01.11.2015 and 31.01.2016. A total of 26978 pediatric patients aged between 0-18 who applied to the pediatric emergency department between these dates constituted the research sample. After the necessary consents of the related institution were taken, the research data were gathered via Patient Information Management System (PIMS) and the reports kept by the pediatric emergency department staff. The data collected in the study were analyzed with the software of Microsoft Excel.
Results: Of all the pediatric patients, 55.% of them were male, and it was seen in terms of the age groups that those aged between 2-4 (27.8%), between 5-9 (24.6%) and between 0-1 (21.5%) more frequently applied to the pediatric emergency department. Among all the patients, 39.5% of them were diagnosed as upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), 21.1% of them as acute tonsillitis and 6% of them as abdominal pain, and it was seen that the most frequent application to the department was in January (n=10680). Of all the 26978 patients participating in the study, 18.1% of them (n=4885)’ were followed in the emergency department observation unit, 2.4% of them (n=660) were hospitalized, 1% of them (n=274) were transferred to another health care center.
Conclusion: In the study, it was found that most of the patients applying to the pediatric emergency department were patients who did not need to apply to an emergency department but needed to apply to centers giving primary care health service and that the healthcare personnel working in the emergency department had to give medical service to a large number of patients.