Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
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Patients with chronic diseases are often forced to seek emergency care for exacerbations. In the face of large predicted increases in the prevalence of chronic diseases, there is increased pressure to avoid hospitalizing these patients at the end of the ED visit, if they can obtain the care they need in the outpatient setting. We performed this scoping study to provide a broad overview of the published literature on the transition of care between ED and primary care following ED discharge. ⋯ A plethora of work has been published on the transition of care from ED to primary care. To decrease hospitalizations among the upcoming wave of patients with chronic diseases, it appears that the two most efficient areas to target are a primary care follow-up appointment system and health insurance. Further research is needed in particular to identify the patients who actually need follow-up care and to develop information technology solutions that can be effectively implemented within the current emergency healthcare system.
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Frequent emergency department (ED) users are high-risk and high-resource-utilizing patients. This systematic review evaluates effectiveness of interventions targeting adult frequent ED users in reducing visit frequency and improving patient outcomes. ⋯ Interventions targeting frequent ED users appear to decrease ED visits and may improve stable housing. Future research should examine cost-effectiveness and adopt standardized definitions.
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Frequent emergency department (ED) users are high-risk and high-resource-utilizing patients. This systematic review evaluates effectiveness of interventions targeting adult frequent ED users in reducing visit frequency and improving patient outcomes. ⋯ Interventions targeting frequent ED users appear to decrease ED visits and may improve stable housing. Future research should examine cost-effectiveness and adopt standardized definitions.