Chest
Communications to the Editor“Frequent Fliers” Do Not Receive a Free Trip in the Emergency Department
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To the Editor:
I read with interest the article by Griswold et al (May 2005).1 The article characterized the patients who are more likely to have a high number of visits to the emergency department (ED). The study was well-conducted, confirmed previously reported data, and moved the field forward by adding solid new information.
In their article, the authors referred to the patients who had a high number of visits to the ED as “frequent fliers.” I think that the use of this term, besides being misleading
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Cited by (7)
Effectiveness of interventions targeting frequent users of emergency departments: A systematic review
2011, Annals of Emergency MedicineCitation Excerpt :First, the high number of visits leads to concerns about their appropriateness.16,17 In the context of chronically crowded EDs18 not designed to provide longitudinal patient care over repeated visits,19,20 frequent users are often considered time-consuming “illegitimate” users of ED resources.21,22 This impression of frequent users has the potential to negatively influence the quality of care that they receive.23,24
Frequent emergency department visitors are frequent primary care visitors and report unmet primary care needs
2017, Journal of Evaluation in Clinical PracticeAssociations between perceived discrimination and health status among frequent Emergency Department users
2017, European Journal of Emergency MedicineThe urban homeless: Super-users of the emergency department
2014, Population Health ManagementFrequent users of US emergency departments: Characteristics and opportunities for intervention
2014, Emergency Medicine Journal