Immigrants and the utilization of hospital emergency departments
Article
Article Title | Immigrants and the utilization of hospital emergency departments |
---|---|
ERA Journal ID | 211526 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Mahmoud, Ibrahim (Author) and Hou, Xiang-Yu (Author) |
Journal Title | World Journal of Emergency Medicine |
Journal Citation | 3 (4), pp. 245-250 |
Number of Pages | 6 |
Year | 2012 |
Place of Publication | China |
ISSN | 1920-8642 |
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. |
Keywords | emergency department; health Services; immigrants; languages; utilization |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 420311. 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 Affiliations | Queensland University of Technology |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q66qq/immigrants-and-the-utilization-of-hospital-emergency-departments
Download files
93
total views78
total downloads1
views this month3
downloads this month