• Maryann Street, Debra Berry, and Julie Considine.
• Geelong: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Geelong: Centre for Quality and Patient Safety (QPS), Eastern Health Partnership, Deakin University, Box Hill, Australia.
• Int J Qual Health Care. 2018 Oct 1; 30 (8): 624-629.

ObjectiveTo characterise older people who frequently use emergency departments (EDs) and compare patient outcomes with older non-frequent ED attenders.DesignRetrospective comparative cohort study. Logistic regression modelling of patient characteristics and health service usage, comparing older frequent ED attenders (≥4 ED attendances in 12 months) to non-frequent ED attenders.SettingThree Australian public hospital EDs, with a total of 143 327 emergency attendances in the 12 months.ParticipantsPeople aged ≥65 years attending the ED in financial year 2013/2014.Main Outcome MeasuresThe primary outcome was frequent ED use; secondary outcomes were ED length of stay, discharge destination from ED, hospital length of stay, re-presentation within 48 h, hospital readmission within 30 days and in-hospital mortality.ResultsFive percent of older people were frequent attenders (n = 1046/21 073), accounting for 16.9% (n = 5469/32 282) of all attendances by older people. Frequent ED attenders were more likely to be male, aged 75-84 years, arrive by ambulance and have a diagnosis relating to chronic illness. Frequent attenders stayed 0.4 h longer in ED (P < 0.001), were more likely to be admitted to hospital (69.2% vs 67.2%; P = 0.004), and had a 1 day longer hospital stay (P < 0.001). In-hospital mortality for older frequent ED attenders was double that of non-frequent attenders (7.0% vs 3.2%, P < 0.001) over 12 months.ConclusionsOlder frequent ED attenders had more chronic disease and care needs requiring hospital admission than non-frequent attenders. A new approach to care planning and coordination is recommended, to optimise the patient journey and improve outcomes.

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