Admission to hospital from the emergency department | Health Quality Alberta Focus

Healthcare Areas

Also in this section
long term icon

Continuing Care Homes: Type A

Formerly
Long Term Care

Admission to hospital from the emergency department

Percentage of emergency departments visits by residents of continuing care homes – type A (formerly long term care), or continuing care homes – type B (formerly designated supportive living) that resulted in admission/transfer to hospital. (see data definition)

 

Data courtesy of Alberta Health Services and Alberta Health

What do you think?

  • Looking at these results over time, are there differences between zones? Between continuing care homes – type A or type B? What factors could account for these differences?

Understanding “admission to hospital from the emergency department”

When a resident is admitted to the hospital, also referred to as acute care, from the emergency department, it means that their condition is too unstable for them to be treated in the emergency department and returned safely to their site. Admission to hospital will depend on the healthcare needs of the resident and will occur if a resident requires treatments and services that can only be provided by an acute care hospital.

Considerations when viewing the results:

When thinking about the number of residents admitted to hospital from the emergency department, providers and leaders can consider a number of things to better understand and improve these results. Some questions they could ask before taking action include:

  • What are the some of the common reasons that result in hospital admissions for continuing care home residents? Of these reasons, which conditions could have been better managed at a site to avoid admission to hospital?
  • What types of resources and supports do sites require to ensure, as much as possible, that use of emergency departments and acute care is appropriate?