Immigrants and the utilization of hospital emergency departments

Article


Mahmoud, Ibrahim and Hou, Xiang-Yu. 2012. "Immigrants and the utilization of hospital emergency departments." World Journal of Emergency Medicine. 3 (4), pp. 245-250. https://doi.org/10.5847/wjem.j.issn.1920-8642.2012.04.001
Article Title

Immigrants and the utilization of hospital emergency departments

ERA Journal ID211526
Article CategoryArticle
AuthorsMahmoud, Ibrahim (Author) and Hou, Xiang-Yu (Author)
Journal TitleWorld Journal of Emergency Medicine
Journal Citation3 (4), pp. 245-250
Number of Pages6
Year2012
Place of PublicationChina
ISSN1920-8642
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.5847/wjem.j.issn.1920-8642.2012.04.001
Web Address (URL)https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4129805/pdf/WJEM-3-245.pdf
Abstract

BACKGROUND: Immigrants with language barriers are at high risk of having poor access to health care services. However, several studies have indicated that immigrants tend to use emergency departments (EDs) as their primary source of care at the expense of primary care. This may place an additional burden on already overcrowded EDs and lead to a low level of patient satisfaction with ED care. The study was to review if immigrants utilize ED care differently from host populations and to assess immigrants’ satisfaction with ED care.

DATA SOURCES: Studies about immigrants' utilization of EDs in Australia and worldwide were reviewed.

RESULTS: There are confl icting results in the literature about the pattern of ED care use among immigrants. Some studies have shown higher utilization by immigrants compared to host populations and others have shown lower utilization. Overall, immigrants use ED care heavily, make inappropriate visits to EDs, have a longer length of stay in EDs, and are less satisfi ed with ED care as compared to host populations.

CONCLUSIONS: Immigrants might use ED care differently from host populations due to language and cultural barriers. There is sparse Australian literature regarding immigrants' access to health care including ED care. To ensure equity, further research is needed to inform policy when planning health care provision to immigrants.

Keywordsemergency department; health Services; immigrants; languages; utilization
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020420311. Health systems
420306. Health care administration
320207. Emergency medicine
Public Notes

© 2012 World Journal of Emergency Medicine. The entire contents of the World Journal of Emergency Medicine are protected under China and international copyrights. The Journal, however, grants to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, perform and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any reasonable non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the rights. The journal also grants the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal non-commercial use.

Byline AffiliationsQueensland University of Technology
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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