Introduction

: The saturation and overcrowding of patients are problem in the emergency service.

Objective

: To describe the characteristics of the demand for medical attention to the emergency service of an urban hospital and to assess its overcrowding.

Methods

: Observational study carried out at the Rebagliati hospital, first quarter 2019. Sociodemographic variables, time and emergency indicators of the institutional statistical system were evaluated. Descriptive statistics were performed with IBM SPSS 24.

Results

: Of 5,1244 attentions in patients between 14 and 102 years (median 60), 56.7% were female. 18% recorded more than one service in the quarter. The day of greatest demand was Monday and the hours between 08 and 13 hours. Priority care III and IV were 83.5% of the total. In the topics of medicine and relief, 63% of care was performed. In the trauma-shock unit, 3% of the care was performed. 13% of emergency care were admitted to observation rooms. The most frequent diagnoses were respiratory failure, infections and strokes. 88% of admissions were made in common rooms with a stay between 4.4 and 7.0 days. 0.8% of those seen died, surgery was performed in 0.7%, and 0.1% was transferred to another facility, respectively.

Conclusion

: The demand to the emergency service is mainly due to medical problems (priority 3 and 4), predominantly elderly and female patients. 13% of those attended were admitted with a long stay, low mortality, very few transfers and a high rate of return.

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