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KMID : 0385920150260020129
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Journal of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine
2015 Volume.26 No. 2 p.129 ~ p.138
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Use of Emergency Medical Services and Characteristics of Urgent and Non- Urgent Adult Patients according to the Usual Source of Care: A Korea Medical Expenditure Panel Study
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Chae Youn-Sok
Lee Jae-Kwang
Park Seong-Soo
Kim Hyun-Jin
Kang In-Gu
Kim Hyun-Soo
Lee Moo-Sik
Hong Jee-Young
Lee Mi-Jin
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Abstract
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Purpose: Use of emergency rooms (ERs) has increased considerably in Korea. This increase has caused overcrowding and has increased the burden on ER services, created a lack of continuous service provided by ERs, and raised costs. The objective of this study was to examine the characteristics of ER use for urgent and non-urgent cases in 2009-2011.
Methods: In this multivariate analysis, we included data collected from the 2009-2011 Korea Medical Expenditure Panel Survey to assess independent factors associated with ER use in non-urgent settings. We consecutively included patients ≥19 years who had completed the survey until 2011.
Results: Among the 10,428 respondents, 19.1% of patients had used ERs. Patients who had used EDs were less likely to have attended graduate school (high school: odds ratio [OR], 0.78 [0.63-0.98]; university: OR, 0.69 [0.54-0.89]) or have chronic disease (OR: 0.68 [0.60-0.78]). In addition, patients who did not have a usual source of care (OR, 0.78 [0.70-0.87]) or those who did not have private insurance (OR, 0.86 [0.74-0.99]) were less likely to use ERs. In the 1,994 cases of ER use, however, the any factors were not affected in the non-urgent ER use group.
Conclusion: The number of patients who used ERs has increased, and there were no significant differences in ER use between non-urgent and urgent patients. ERs may have been used for non-urgent cases owing to other reasons. Further studies on the reasons for non-urgent ER use and development of urgent patient criteria are required.
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KEYWORD
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Emergency medical service, Utilization, Health expenditure, Health care survey
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