Med Clin Barcelona
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Comment Letter Case Reports
[Klebsiella pneumoniae meningitis, Strongyloides stercoralis infection and HTLV-1].
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Comparative Study
[Prospective study of patients who leave the emergency department before being seen by the physician].
To define epidemiological characteristics, the main reasons, and outcome of patients who leave the emergency department (ED) without being seen by a physician. ⋯ Patients who leave ED department before being seen by a doctor are usually young, literate, have not previously visited their community physician, and consulted for minor complaints. The main reason to leave is their own impression of suffering a minor disease, and less than 50% visit another physician after their leaving, being the rate of hospital admission low. We should be particularly cautious with those patients referred by a community doctor and those identified as to have a seriously affected health status at their arrival at the hospital, since they are at increased risk to be admitted.