{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,3]],"date-time":"2026-04-03T02:56:52Z","timestamp":1775185012673,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"SMW Supporting Association","issue":"3738","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2013,9,8]],"date-time":"2013-09-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1378598400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Swiss Med Wkly"],"abstract":"<jats:p>BACKGROUND: Emergency department crowding is a growing international problem. One  possible reason for crowding might be the rising number of \u201cwalk-in\u201d patients  presenting with \u201cnon-urgent\u201d health complaints.\n        METHODS: In a retrospective cohort study in adult medical patients presenting to  the emergency unit of the University Hospital Zurich, we determined the frequency of  \u201cnon-urgent\u201d encounters, examined patient characteristics predictive for such  encounters, and explored the impact of a simple, non-validated triage tool on  diverting \u201cnon-urgent\u201d cases to alternate sites of primary care.\n        RESULTS: We included 1,175 and 1,448 medical encounters before (1\u201331 January 2008)  and after (1\u201331 January 2009) the implementation of the triage tool. Almost one  out of three patients presented with a minor \u201cnon-urgent\u201d health complaint  (29.9% [95%CI 28.1%\u201331.6%]). The most common were \u201ccough\/sneezing\u201d (7.82%  [95%CI 6.79%\u20138.84%]), \u201cfollow-up\u201d (6.44% [95%CI 5.50%\u20137.38%]), and  \u201cweakness\/tiredness\u201d (3.47% [95%CI 2.77%\u20134.17%]). Significant predictors for  \u201cnon-urgent\u201d encounters were young age (mean adjusted odds ratio 0.93 [95%CI  0.88\u20130.97] for each additional decade of life), and non-Swiss origin (adjusted  odds ratio 1.18 [95%CI 1.02\u20131.31]). The triage tool did not divert \u201cnon-urgent\u201d  cases from the emergency unit to outpatient care (adjusted odds ratio 0.94  [95%CI 0.80\u20131.12]).\n        CONCLUSION: In the emergency unit of the University Hospital Zurich, the prevalence of  \u201cnon-urgent\u201d medical encounters was substantial with one out three patients  presenting with minor health complaints. Young age and non-Swiss origin were  associated with increased use of the emergency unit for \u201cnon-urgent\u201d  conditions. A simple triage tool did not effectively divert \u201cnon-urgent\u201d cases  to alternates sites of primary care.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4414\/smw.2013.13760","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2014,7,3]],"date-time":"2014-07-03T10:27:23Z","timestamp":1404383243000},"page":"w13760","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Non-urgent  encounters in a Swiss medical emergency unit"],"prefix":"10.57187","volume":"143","author":[{"given":"Philipp","family":"Bardelli","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Vladimir","family":"Kaplan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"36756","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,9,8]]},"container-title":["Swiss Medical Weekly"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/smw.ch\/index.php\/smw\/article\/download\/1756\/2394","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/smw.ch\/index.php\/smw\/article\/download\/1756\/2395","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/smw.ch\/index.php\/smw\/article\/download\/1756\/2394","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,15]],"date-time":"2025-08-15T04:57:58Z","timestamp":1755233878000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/smw.ch\/index.php\/smw\/article\/view\/1756"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2013,9,8]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3738","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,9,9]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4414\/smw.2013.13760","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-3997"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-3997","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2013,9,8]]}}}