Frequent attenders to emergency department in a research hospital in Turkey

Frequent attenders to emergency departments are increasingly important worldwide major healthcare problem. In our study we aimed to define characteristics of this unique and frail population. Study was conducted in Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital during a 1-year period between 01.01.2013 and 01.12.2013 and adult patients older than 18 years old whom made emergency visits more than 12 times a year were included in the study. Each patient’s demographic data (age, sex, marital status), medical insurance status, cause of death, residential address, chronic disorders were noted and analyzed further. A total of 169,066 emergency department visits done by 124,574 different patients.117 frequent attenders visited emergency department for a total of 2,162 times. 76 were men and 41 were women. The count of visits were ranging from 12 to 91 per year. Of them the uninsured were significantly older.Both the age and frequency of divorced/widowed were significantly higher compared to other groups (p<0.05). Pain was significantly the most common presenting symptom followed by psychiatric complaints. Frequent attenders had mostly psychiatric and pain related chronic diseases in general but hematological disorders had significantly more common emergency department visits compared to other patients.16 patients were deceased during the study period. The analysis of the deceased patients revealed that they had a significantly higher frequency of emergency department visits, significantly higher mean age, and significantly higher rates of chronic internal and oncological disorders. Frequent patients, a frail population, have complex problems, the solution of which should primarily lie in familiarizing with this patient population and defining their characteristics.