Small clinics providing ambulatory care services could reduce emergency department misuse in the UAE

Dubai, UAE:  Misuse of the emergency departments in the UAE is a common occurrence; one that could exert a detrimental impact on the healthcare system and its end-users. This would ultimately lead to a tremendous decline in customer satisfaction as well as employee burnout. Emergency department misuse can be defined in many different ways but the simplest one is the improper use of the emergency department's resources.

Dr Firas Jafar Kareem Annajjar, Consultant of Emergency Medicine and Program Director of Emergency Medicine Residency Program, Rashid Hospital Trauma Centre, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, UAE, spoke about the misuses of the emergency department at the Rashid Hospital in Dubai at the 1st Emergency Medicine Exhibition & Congress which concludes today at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre.

“Rashid Hospital in Dubai receives approximately 450-500 patients per day, however, many of the cases that arrive at the emergency department could easily be diverted to the ambulatory care unit or peripheral health centres,” says Dr Firas Jafar Kareem Annajjar. “Much research has been done since the early 1980s to determine why such unnecessary visits were taking place.  Many reasons were identified. Amongst them, one of the biggest misconceptions among patients who come to the ED is that they will be seen on a first-come, first-served basis however, the very nature of emergency care makes such routine customer service impossible.”

The Rashid Hospital Trauma Centre was established in 2006 and is one of the largest of its kind worldwide. It houses a 57-bed fully integrated emergency department and is the only emergency department dedicated to emergency and trauma care in the region.

“Small clinics providing ambulatory care services could be one of the options that help reduce emergency department misuse, and this has already been implemented in Dubai over the last year consequently aiding in reducing an unnecessary influx of inappropriate patients to our Emergency Department,” highlighted Dr Annajar.

The Emergency Department at the Trauma Centre provides a wide variety of services for all ages, and both genders such as emergency services 24 hours a day, seven days a week for traumas, acute medical emergencies, surgical emergencies, psychiatric emergencies, cardiac emergencies, infectious diseases, and disaster management.