EPICS-8: Reasons for Emergency Department utilization by patients with non-urgent conditions:

Emergency Departments (EDs) are an important interface between primary and secondary health care sectors in Germany. The number of outpatient visits in the ED´s is still increasing. The reasons for ED utilization by patients with non-urgent conditions are nearly unknown in Germany and will be investigated in this project.

EPICS-8: Reasons for Emergency Department utilization by patients with non-urgent conditions:

Emergency Departments (EDs) are an important interface between primary and the secondary health care system in Germany. The number of outpatient visits in the ED´s is still increasing. The reasons for ED utilization by patients with non-urgent conditions are nearly unknown in Germany and will be explored in this project.

EPICS-8 is a pilot study to establish a research structure for the linkage of ED-data with data of the primary health care sector. Data linkage will be conducted for patients with the Manchester Triage System categories blue, green and yellow. A secondary aim of the EPICS-8 study is to develop a valid questionnaire for the assessment of reasons for ED utilization by non-urgent patients.

Primary objective:

Establishing of a research structure for the linkage of inhospital-data with data from the primary health care System. Records of 5,000 patients who attended one of the two EDs at the Charité University Medicine Berlin will be linked to Primary health care data.

Secondary objectives:

1. Development and testing of a questionaire for the identification of reasons for emergency department utilization by patients with non-urgent conditions (n=100)
2. Characterization and quantification of non-urgent emergencies
3. Explorative analysis of patient pathways and influencing factors for ED-visits with non-urgent conditions.

Eligibility criteria for record linkage:

• Age>= 18 years
• Outpatients
• MTS-Triage category blue, green or yellow
• Treatment in one of the two participating EDs

Eligibility criteria for questionnaire pretest:

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age>= 18 years
• Outpatients
• MTS-Triage category blue, green or yellow
• Treatment in one of the two participating EDs
• Eligibility to understand the study purposes and give written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• Dementia
• no sufficient German language skills
• patients with legal representatives

Adult men and women who are discharged after emergency treatment (outpatients) with an initial Manchester Triage Category of blue, green or yellow.