Table 1 Characteristics, initial triage and medical appropriateness of patient visits at a paediatric emergency department (ED) of a large urban university hospital in southern Sweden
Paediatric emergency department (ED) visits initially triaged | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
home or for other level of care (n = 153) | to ED physician and later assessed appropriate for primary care(n = 331) | to ED physician and later assessed appropriate for ED care (n = 398) | |||
Number (%) | P-valuea | Number (%) | Number (%) | P-valuea | |
Age (years) | |||||
0–0.5 | 18 (12) | < 0.001 | 62 (19) | 126 (32) | < 0.001 |
0.6–1 | 56 (37) | > 0.300 | 118 (36) | 124 (31) | 0.153 |
2–6 | 62 (41) | 0.007 | 111 (34) | 100 (25) | < 0.001 |
7–12 | 12 (8) | > 0.300 | 25 (8) | 31 (8) | > 0.300 |
13–17 | 5 (3) | > 0.300 | 15 (5) | 17 (4) | > 0.300 |
Female gender | 67 (44) | 0.287 | 174 (53) | 180 (45) | 0.198 |
Main presenting problem | |||||
Vomiting/Diarrhoea | 39 (25) | 0.081 | 50 (15) | 72 (18) | > 0.300 |
Fever | 32 (21) | > 0.300 | 68 (21) | 81 (20) | > 0.300 |
Breathing problem | 6 (4) | < 0.001 | 44 (13) | 68 (17) | 0.004 |
Cough/Runnning nose | 22 (14) | 0.207 | 46 (14) | 32 (8) | 0.005 |
Neurological problem | 0 | 0.146 | 3 (1) | 11 (3) | 0.014 |
Other | 54 (35) | > 0.300 | 120 (36) | 134 (37) | > 0.300 |
Triaged to be assessed | |||||
immediately | – | – | 11 (3) | 17 (4) | > 0.300 |
within 1 h | – | – | 110 (33) | 149 (37) | 0.245 |
within 1–3 h | – | – | 137 (41) | 200 (50) | 0.017 |
within > 3 h | – | – | 73 (22) | 32 (8) | < 0.001 |
Hospital admission | – | – | 1 (< 1) | 75 (19) | < 0.001 |
Direct seekingb | 73 (52) | 0.005 | 128 (42) | 132 (36) | 0.008 |
Both parents born outside Nordic countriesb | 80 (54) | < 0.001 | 133 (42) | 122 (32) | < 0.001 |
Both parents having lowc understanding of Swedishb | 23 (16) | 0.004 | 34 (12) | 21 (5) | < 0.001 |
Both parents educated less than 12 yearsb | 59 (41) | > 0.300 | 139 (44) | 140 (36) | 0.057 |
Both parents currently unemployedb | 28 (19) | 0.070 | 52 (16) | 43 (11) | 0.014 |
Single-parent householdb | 14 (10) | 0.144 | 57 (18) | 47 (12) | > 0.300 |
First-born childb | 89 (65) | 0.008 | 166 (55) | 196 (52) | 0.067 |