Reasons behind Patients Who Leave the Emergency Department without being seen by a Physician - A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background & Objectives: Left without being seen patients (LWBS) is a serious problem that has safety and quality implications on hospitals. This study is aimed to assess long waiting time as a reason behind the patients' decision to leave the Emergency Department without being seen and to seek other reasons behind it. Methods & Materials: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was performed at a tertiary teaching hospital in Riyadh. Demographic factors include income level, the reason behind visiting this hospital (ED), triage priority level 1 to 5 from Emergency Severity Index-Iv, cause behind the visit, and waiting times before leaving was collected. Respondents were asked questions regarding ED services according to a predesigned 5- point Likert scale questionnaires. Results: In terms of demographics, respondents were almost of similar sex group size (Male 51%, Female 49%). Age group in the majority was 30-40 years old (32.29%), and most was of university education level (33.3%). Most of the patients showed up at emergency alone (33.3%), and the primary health complaint was upper respiratory infection (34.25%). Majority of respondents were strongly dissatisfied with long waiting, due to the fact they had to wait 2-3 hours to be seen by a physician (50 % of total respondents), and over 3 hours (26 %). The significant reason behind patients leaving the emergency room among all respondents was long waiting time (53 %). One- sample T-test score for three different independent variables, (Patients Duration from last ED visit with a T score -31.994, duration before leaving T score -66.541, and the period between the provision of services was -138.006). Moreover, the P= value about .000 in three variables. The CI was set to 95%. Conclusion: The study results showed that long waiting time is a major reason behind patients leaving ED. It has been recommended to allocate more manpower (part-time staff, overtime, any other qualified) to be able to meet the increasing number of patients and decrease their waiting time. Also, there seems to be a strong relationship with patients feeling neglected or ignored while they are sitting in the waiting area.

Keywords: Demographics, Emergency Department, group distribution, Left -Without -Being-Seen, one -sample statistics

Cite this Article

Dr Sajjan Iqbal Memon, Ali Al-Saif, Mohammad Alharbi. Reasons behind Patients Who Leave the Emergency Department without being seen by a Physician - A Qualitative Study. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Health Professions. 2020; 10(2): 48–55p.