P133: Characterizing how institutionalized and community-dwelling elderly patients use emergency department services in Regina, Saskatchewan

Abstract

Introduction: In light of recent local initiatives aimed at improving emergency department (ED) patient flow, we sought to characterize how patients aged 65 and older who reside in long term care (LTC) facilities utilize the services of the EDs in Regina, Saskatchewan as compared to an age-matched comparison of community dwelling individuals. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed with a convenience sample of the first 50 patients who presented to each ED at both hospitals in Regina starting January 1, 2012 for each population. Two separate patient populations were included: those who reside in the health region run LTC facilities and those who live in the community. We abstracted data from a variety of different clinical, demographic and administrative parameters. Results: The charts of 100 patients were reviewed for the LTC population (54 females, mean age 82.6) and 99 patients for the community dwelling population (55 females, mean age 77.3). The CTAS distribution for the LTC patients was found to be CTAS 1: 5%, CTAS 2: 9%, CTAS 3: 43%, CTAS 4: 33% and CTAS 5: 10%. For the community dwelling individuals, the distribution was CTAS 1: 1%, CTAS 2: 21%, CTAS 3: 44%, CTAS 4: 22%, CTAS 5: 10%. This is a significantly different distribution (p = 0.047). From the LTC population, we found that 50% of patients were admitted, with 46% being discharged and 4% leaving without being seen. Furthermore, we also noted that 75% of patients were brought to the ED by EMS. From the community dwelling population, we noted that 43% of patients were admitted, with 55% being discharged and 1% leaving without being seen. This population used EMS services 41% of the time. With respect to length of stay, LTC patients had a mean duration of 5.7 (±4.3 hours) compared to 4.8 (±4.0) hours for the non-LTC population (p=0.111). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the highest volume of acuity for the LTC patients falls within the CTAS 3 or 4 categories whereas there is a higher proportion of CTAS 2 acuity patients in the community dwelling population. Exactly half of our LTC sample was admitted as compared to 43% of the community population. The LTC population also required EMS services for a considerably higher proportion of their presentations to the ED (75% compared to 41%). It is our intent that the findings of this study will help guide future quality improvement initiatives.