Liston, Paul
ORCID: 0000-0003-2832-8975, Conyngham, Gerry, Byrne, P.J.
ORCID: 0000-0002-4446-1509, Brady, Malcolm
ORCID: 0000-0002-4276-3976, Winder-Baggot, S. and Gilligan, Peadar
(2022)
The Boomerang study: increased hospital re-admission via the emergency department.
Irish Journal Medical, 114
(1).
ISSN 0332-3102
Abstract
Aims:
This research was performed to assess if a reduced length of hospital stay was associated with in-creased re-attendances to, and re-admissions from, the Emergency Department (ED).
Methods:
Inpatient discharge and ED attendance records over a ten-year period were sampled and collated. Independent sample t-tests and regression were used to assess changes.
Results:
The analyses found a statistically significant decrease in inpatient hospital length of stay (7.34 to 6.69 days) and a significant increase in ED re-attendance for recently discharged inpatients from 8.88% (539/6065) to 10.98% (687/6255). However, the overall percentage of inpatients returning to a hos-pital bed within 30 days of discharge did not change significantly from 12.30% (746/6065) to 12.65% (791/6255).
Conclusion:
Results confirm that an increasing percentage of recently discharged inpatients are attending the ED. This finding does not support the hypothesis that increased ED re-attendance of recently discharged inpatients is due to reduced hospital stay because the overall re-admission rate for recently discharged inpatients did not increase. Instead, further analysis revealed a significant change in the re-entry route as the increase in ED attendances is mirrored by a decrease in hospital re-admission via other routes (e.g. outpatient clinics). This change has increased the workload of an already overcrowded ED.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article (Published) |
|---|---|
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Subjects: | Business > Management Medical Sciences > Health |
| DCU Faculties and Centres: | DCU Faculties and Schools > DCU Business School |
| Publisher: | Irish Medical Association |
| Official URL: | https://hdl.handle.net/10779/rcsi.21379116.v1 |
| Copyright Information: | Authors |
| ID Code: | 32602 |
| Deposited On: | 12 May 2026 10:07 by Tam Nguyen . Last Modified 12 May 2026 10:07 |
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