After-Hours Care in Suburban Canada
Objective : To determine if operation of an outpatient “after-hours” clinic (AHC) was associated with a reduction in local emergency department (ED) visits. Study Setting : Leduc, Alberta, Canada is a city of approximately 20 000 people. There is one hospital ED and a single AHC. Information on AHC...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2011-10-01
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| Series: | Journal of Primary Care & Community Health |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/2150131911408431 |
| _version_ | 1818399175456325632 |
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| author | David Jones MSc Linda Carroll PhD Leonard Frank MSc |
| author_facet | David Jones MSc Linda Carroll PhD Leonard Frank MSc |
| author_sort | David Jones MSc |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective : To determine if operation of an outpatient “after-hours” clinic (AHC) was associated with a reduction in local emergency department (ED) visits. Study Setting : Leduc, Alberta, Canada is a city of approximately 20 000 people. There is one hospital ED and a single AHC. Information on AHC and ED visits was collected from January 2005 to February 2008. Study Design : This was an observational before-and-after study of monthly ED visit frequency, stratified by patient illness severity. Data Collection : We collected patient visits per month to the ED before and after AHC implementation. Twenty-eight months of ED patient visit information were collected (14 months of pre-AHC; 14 months of post-AHC). A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to test the statistical strength of difference in ED visits, matched by month, before and after the AHC became operational. Results : An average of 261.2 (standard deviation [SD], 47.7) patient visits per month were made to the AHC. There was a mean reduction of 36.7 (standard error of mean [SEM], 9.6; P = .009) total patient visits per month and 49.3 (SEM, 5.6; P = .001) fewer semiurgent patient visits per month to the Leduc ED during AHC operating hours. Conclusions : There was a consistently observable and statistically significant reduction in total patients visiting the ED subsequent to AHC operation. Stratified analysis indicated that this was due to fewer semiurgent patients seeking medical care at the local ED. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T07:16:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b4b152d4db3b4cc8bf77bc1d68bf4f80 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2150-1319 2150-1327 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T07:16:30Z |
| publishDate | 2011-10-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Primary Care & Community Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-b4b152d4db3b4cc8bf77bc1d68bf4f802022-12-21T23:11:43ZengSAGE PublishingJournal of Primary Care & Community Health2150-13192150-13272011-10-01210.1177/2150131911408431After-Hours Care in Suburban CanadaDavid Jones MSc0Linda Carroll PhD1Leonard Frank MSc2Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, CanadaDepartment of Public Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, CanadaLeduc Beaumont Devon Primary Care Network, AB, CanadaObjective : To determine if operation of an outpatient “after-hours” clinic (AHC) was associated with a reduction in local emergency department (ED) visits. Study Setting : Leduc, Alberta, Canada is a city of approximately 20 000 people. There is one hospital ED and a single AHC. Information on AHC and ED visits was collected from January 2005 to February 2008. Study Design : This was an observational before-and-after study of monthly ED visit frequency, stratified by patient illness severity. Data Collection : We collected patient visits per month to the ED before and after AHC implementation. Twenty-eight months of ED patient visit information were collected (14 months of pre-AHC; 14 months of post-AHC). A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to test the statistical strength of difference in ED visits, matched by month, before and after the AHC became operational. Results : An average of 261.2 (standard deviation [SD], 47.7) patient visits per month were made to the AHC. There was a mean reduction of 36.7 (standard error of mean [SEM], 9.6; P = .009) total patient visits per month and 49.3 (SEM, 5.6; P = .001) fewer semiurgent patient visits per month to the Leduc ED during AHC operating hours. Conclusions : There was a consistently observable and statistically significant reduction in total patients visiting the ED subsequent to AHC operation. Stratified analysis indicated that this was due to fewer semiurgent patients seeking medical care at the local ED.https://doi.org/10.1177/2150131911408431 |
| spellingShingle | David Jones MSc Linda Carroll PhD Leonard Frank MSc After-Hours Care in Suburban Canada Journal of Primary Care & Community Health |
| title | After-Hours Care in Suburban Canada |
| title_full | After-Hours Care in Suburban Canada |
| title_fullStr | After-Hours Care in Suburban Canada |
| title_full_unstemmed | After-Hours Care in Suburban Canada |
| title_short | After-Hours Care in Suburban Canada |
| title_sort | after hours care in suburban canada |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/2150131911408431 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davidjonesmsc afterhourscareinsuburbancanada AT lindacarrollphd afterhourscareinsuburbancanada AT leonardfrankmsc afterhourscareinsuburbancanada |