Trends and Weekly Cycles in a Large Swiss Emergency Centre: A 10 Year Period at the University Hospital of Bern

Abstract

Popular demand for high quality care has increased in recent years. This is also the case for medical services and support at all times of the day and night is nowadays required. During the last ten years, there has been a marked increase in the demands on hospital emergency hospitals, particularly in the Western industrialized countries. The present retrospective study investigates how the demands on a large Swiss university centre have changed over a period of 10 years. Patient numbers are differentiated by age, gender, nationality, weekday and mode of referral. A retrospective analysis was performed of the data of the patients admitted to the Emergency Centre of Bern University Medical Hospital (Inselspital) during the ten-year period from 2004 up to and including 2013 and who were treated as emergencies. A total of 264,272 patients were included in the study. It was shown that there was an uninterrupted annual increase from 23,555 patients in 2004 to 34,918 patients in 2013 (+48%). Most patients came to the Emergency Centre on Mondays, followed by Fridays. Because of the marked increase in life expectancy and the resulting demographic changes, there has been a marked increase in the number of older patients coming to the Emergency Centre for acute medical care. It was found that there were disproportionately high numbers of patients aged 20 to 49 years who were not Swiss citizens. In contrast, most patients over 60 were Swiss. In the coming years, emergency centres will have to adapt to the continued increase in patient numbers. This trend will continue, so that it is essential to consider the sociodemographic structure of a region when planning the availability of emergency medical care.

A dangerously underrated entity? Non-specific complaints at emergency department presentation are associated with utilisation of less diagnostic resources

“…In the US, ED visits increased by 44% from 1996 to 2010 [16], and similar trends have been reported in other developed countries [17], as well as in Switzerland [18,19], and this contributes to the burden of rising health care costs. EDs serve as important points of entry to the health care system and are a pivotal source of medical care.…”

Effect of a physician assistant on quality and efficiency metrics in an emergency department

“…A n aging population, coupled with changes in patient demand and choice of where they seek care, is placing increasing demand on emergency departments (EDs) worldwide. 1 As a result, EDs have to become more efficient. Throughput-the rate at which patients are registered, assessed, treated, and ultimately admitted or discharged from the ED-continues to be a challenge in many Canadian EDs.…”

Elaborated plan for incoming surgical emergency management in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…The USA has seen an annual increase of 5%–11%, while Germany has seen an increase of 16% from 2005 up to 2008. 8 In the USA, based on a report by Emejulu et al, 9 the RTAs as a cause of head injury accounted for 28% of cases. They concluded that despite advanced emergency management in high-income countries, head injury is a public health issue.…”