TY  - CHAP
U1  - Konferenzveröffentlichung
A1  - Rauch, Jens
A1  - Hübner, Ursula Hertha
T1  - Use of Emergency Departments by Frail Elderly Patients : Temporal Patterns and Case Complexity
T2  - German Medical Data Sciences : Shaping Change – Creative Solutions for Innovative Medicine
N2  - Emergency department (ED) care for frail elderly patients is associated with an increased use of resources due to their complex medical needs and frequently difficult psycho-social situation. To better target their needs with specially trained staff, it is vital to determine the times during which these particular patients present to the ED. Recent research was inconclusive regarding this question and the applied methods were limited to coarse time windows. Moreover, there is little research on time variation of frail ED patients’ case complexity. This study examines differences in arrival rates for frail vs. non-frail patients in detail and compares case complexity in frail patients within vs. outside of regular GP working hours. Arrival times and case variables (admission rate, ED length of stay [LOS], triage level and comorbidities) were extracted from the EHR of an ED in an urban German teaching hospital. We employed Poisson time series regression to determine patterns in hourly arrival rates over the week. Frail elderly patients presented more likely to the ED during already high frequented hours, especially at midday and in the afternoon. Case complexity for frail patients was significantly higher compared to non-frail patients, but varied marginally in time only with respect to triage level and ED LOS. The results suggest that frailty-attuned emergency care should be available in EDs during the busiest hours. Based on EHR data, hospitals thus can tailor their staff needs.
Y1  - 2019
UN  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:959-opus-20442
SN  - 978-1-64368-016-3
SB  - 978-1-64368-016-3
SN  - 978-1-64368-017-0
SB  - 978-1-64368-017-0
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3233/SHTI190830
DO  - https://doi.org/10.3233/SHTI190830
N1  - 64th Annual Meeting of the German Association of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (GMDS e.V.), 08.11. - 11.09.2019, Dortmund
SP  - 215
EP  - 223
PB  - IOS Press
CY  - Amsterdam
ER  -