Assessment of Patients Transferred from the Emergency Department to Home by Ambulance

Aim: Our research aimed to examine patients' sociodemographic characteristics transferred from the emergency department to home by ambulance and the factors that cause ambulance transport. To our knowledge, there is no study presenting a perspective on patients who were discharged from the emergency department but were transferred home by ambulance. Although the literature on patients using pre-hospital ambulance services is full, it lacks patients in need of post-hospital ambulance services. Since it is the first study on this subject, it is aimed to be a guide for future studies.
Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at an academic tertiary care emergency department in Turkey between March 2019 and March 2020.
Results: Of the 1059 patients included in the study, 56.1% were women, 43.9% were male and their average age was 74.21 years. The most influential factors in transporting patients from the emergency department to home by ambulance were bedridden (%47,4), social reasons(%37,7) and oxygen need (%14,9).
Conclusion: The high average age of patients transferred from the emergency department to the home and the reasons for their transportation demands show that the increasing elderly population creates new requirements in health. Providing ambulance service to special groups for home transport after emergency room discharge should be seen as a part of emergency treatment. Standardization should be developed by carrying out studies on this subject.