The percentage of appropriate ED visits by self-referred patients in the Netherlands ranges from 48.1 to 58.8%, as determined using two different methods.

No abstract

Only a limited number of laboratory tests are essential for early medical decision making at the Emergency Department. Ordering facilities should be arranged such that these tests are permanently available, easy to order, and performed with short turnaround times. Test panels for the ED should incorporate these essential tests, with additional other tests so as to prevent essential tests from being forgotten, maintain convenience for doctors and promote sensible and effective use of diagnostic testing. The outcome of these conflicting aims is a compromise, as is discussed.

In conclusion, doctors in an ED - besides first of all medical motives - heavily exploit practical (non-medical) reasoning for laboratory test ordering, e.g. taking availability of tests into account and ordering non-immediate tests.