Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb;29(1):32-38.
doi: 10.1111/jep.13705. Epub 2022 May 22.

Minor traumatic injuries in the emergency department pre- and post-implementation of an emergency care access point

Rens van der Baaren  1 , Dennis G Barten  1 , Frits van Osch  2 , Kevin W Y van Barneveld  1 , Heinrich M J Janzing  3 , Jochen W L Cals  4
Affiliations

Minor traumatic injuries in the emergency department pre- and post-implementation of an emergency care access point

Rens van der Baaren et al. J Eval Clin Pract. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Objective: In the Netherlands, out-of-hours General Practice Cooperatives (GPCs) increasingly collaborate with Emergency Departments (EDs) to form an Emergency Care Access Point (ECAP). ECAPs aim to decrease the number of low-urgent ED attendances, of which many compromise minor traumatic injuries. In this study, we evaluated the impact of ECAP implementation on the incidence of minor traumatic injuries in the ED.

Methods: We evaluated a total of 2772 ED patients who presented with a minor traumatic injury (categorized into traumatic wounds and isolated extremity injuries) 1 year before and 1 year after ECAP implementation. We compared patient characteristics, throughput, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up before and after ECAP implementation.

Results: ECAP implementation was associated with a reduction in ED volume for minor traumatic injuries: -12.4% for isolated extremity injuries (1249 vs. 1094) and -74.6% for traumatic wounds (342 vs. 87). Multivariable logistic regression analysis controlling for patient characteristics showed that ECAP implementation was associated with higher rates of substantial injuries in the ED (OR 1.20, 95% CI = 1.01-1.43), and more patients requiring outpatient follow-up.

Conclusion: Implementation of an ECAP was associated with a reduction of ED utilization by patients with minor traumatic injuries, traumatic wounds in particular. This healthcare intervention may therefore help to reduce ED utilization for low-urgent complaints.

Keywords: crowding; emergency care access point; emergency department.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

REFERENCES

    1. Gaakeer MI, van den Brand CL, Gips E, et al. [National developments in Emergency Departments in the Netherlands: numbers and origins of patients in the period from 2012 to 2015]. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2016;160:D970.
    1. Kraaijvanger N, van Leeuwen H, Rijpsma D, Edwards M. Motives for self-referral to the emergency department: a systematic review of the literature. BMC Health Serv Res. 2016;16(1):685.
    1. Giesen P, Franssen E, Mokkink H, van den Bosch W, van Vugt A, Grol R. Patients either contacting a general practice cooperative or accident and emergency department out of hours: a comparison. Emerg Med J. 2006;23(9):731-734.
    1. Rutten M, Vrielink F, Smits M, Giesen P. Patient and care characteristics of self-referrals treated by the general practitioner cooperative at emergency-care-access-points in the Netherlands. BMC Fam Pract. 2017;18(1):62.
    1. Smits M, Rutten M, Schepers L, Giesen P. Zelfmelders op de spoedpost bij triage door de huisartsenpost. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2017;161:D1601.

LinkOut - more resources