A Study of Factors that have Influence on the Length of Stay in the Emergency Room of Patients who have Acute Myocardial Infarction

Joung, Hye-Gyoung; Kim, Hae-Joon; Yoon, Seok-Jun; Lee, June-Young; Lee, Heeyoung

Journal of Korean Society Quality Assurance Health Care 2003;10(1): 42.
Published online May 30, 2003.

응급실 급성심근경색증 환자의 체류시간에 영향을 미치는 요인에 관한 연구

정혜경¹, 김해준², 윤석준², 이준영², 이희영²

¹고려대학교 구로병원 QI실
²고려대학교 의과대학 예방의학교실

A Study of Factors that have Influence on the Length of Stay in the Emergency Room of Patients who have Acute Myocardial Infarction

Hye-Gyoung Joung¹, Hae-Joon Kim², Seok-Jun Yoon², June-Young Lee², Heeyoung Lee²

¹Quality Improvement Team, Korea University Guro Hospital
²Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Korea University

Abstract

Background
The purpose of this study is to investigate the influencing factors on the length of emergency department stay of patients with acute myocardial infraction.
Methods
we reviewed medical records of all patients who were Hospitalized with acute myocardial infraction from March 1, 2002 to February 28, 2003.
Results
The average length of stay in the emergency room of the subjects was 182.74 minutes. After the emergency room treatment, 48.1% of the subjects were transferred to intensive care unit. The hospitalization through emergency room mostly took place in the office hours. There were more patients on Monday. The influencing factors on the length of stay in the emergency room of patients with acute myocardial infraction were emergency room arrival time which was classified in seasons, treatment hours of specialized doctors, medical care insurance and required time of radiologic examination.
Conclusion
In order to reduce the length of emergency room stay, it might be an available solution secure enough spaces, facility, and staff of the radiologic test only for the patients of the emergency room. And the effective use of emergency facility and space, establishment of standardized treatment guideline, and provision of emergency treatment support system are also needed.

Key words Emergency care;Myocardial Infarction;Quality Assurance;Health Care;