Statistical bulletin (Metropolitan Life Insurance Company : 1984)
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Stat Bull Metrop Insur Co · Oct 1995
CommentThe urgency of visits to hospital emergency departments: data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), 1992.
During 1992, an estimated 89.8 million visits were made to the emergency departments (EDs) of nonfederal, short-stay or general hospitals in the United States. Of these ED visits, 40.1 million (44.6 percent) were labeled urgent by hospital staff. For survey purposes, an urgent visit was defined as one in which the patient requires immediate attention for an acute illness or injury that threatens life or function and where delay would be harmful to the patient. ⋯ Along with injury and poisoning, diseases of the respiratory system and "signs, symptoms, and ill-defined conditions" accounted for the majority of both urgent and nonurgent ED visits. About one-quarter (24.9 percent) of urgent ED visits resulted in hospital admission. However, the most common disposition at both urgent and nonurgent ED visits was referral to another physician.