Prevalence and Factors Associated with Attendance of Non-Urgent Cases of Pediatric Emergency Room in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The care for emergency conditions is an important feature of developed the systems of healthcare. Emergency medicine is the medical specialty dedicated to diagnosis and treatment of unforeseen illness or injuries. Overcrowding of Emergency Room (ER) by non-urgent cases is a problem that should be raised and reasons for that need to be sought. The aim is to identify the prevalence and factors behind non-urgent cases attending to acute care in Riyadh. This is a cross-sectional study which was conducted over a one-year period. Questionnaires were distributed to parents of children ≤14 years attending pediatric emergency room (ER) in multiple hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The sample size was 383 participants recruited using convenience sampling technique. The inclusion criteria comprised of pediatrics ≤14 years attending to ER with urgent cases (level 1, 2 and 3 according to Emergency Severity Index) and minor trauma (contusion, abrasion), sore throat, upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), mild abdominal pain, vomiting alone or diarrhea alone with no sign of dehydration of (level 4 and 5 according to Emergency Severity Index). 383 questionnaires were collected. The sample consisted mostly of females 56%. Upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) was the highest reason for pediatric emergency room visits (55.1%). Only 12.2% have visited primary health care (PHC) prior to emergency room. Most of participants have sources for medical advice other than emergency physicians (80.3%). Results also show that many parents who have brought their kids to emergency lacked the knowledge that their cases could be managed in primary health care (76.2%). In Conclusion, results have shown that many parents choose ER whenever their children have any symptoms. Reasons for that varied between each participant. Many participants are ignorant of the capabilities of PHC centers, and their services. Raising awareness regarding primary health should be the objective to reduce number of non-urgent cases visiting emergency room.