Prevalence and Etiology of Early Return Visit (ERV) Within Three Days of Discharge in Emergency Department

Objective: To determine the frequency and etiology of Early Return Visits within 3 days of discharge to the Emergency Department. Study Design: Prospective longitudinal study. Place and Duration of Study: Emergency Department of Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Jan to Jun 2022. Methodology: All patients visiting the Emergency Department within the defined 6-month period were included in this study, which came to 101’113. To determine overall incidence of Early Return Visits, total number of patients revisiting within 72 hours of Emergency Department discharge was used. To find out the possible factors responsible for ERVs, a sample size of 80 patients revisiting the Emergency Department was calculated through World Health Organization calculator and selected through random sampling technique. Factors responsible for unscheduled Early Return Visits were divided into three broad categories: Doctor-associated, Disease-associated, and Patient-associated. Results: The total number of patients revisiting Emergency Department within 72 hours was 2,880 (2.9%). Out of these 52.5% patients reported back to the Emergency Department due to disease-associated reasons, 27.5% due to doctor-related reasons, and 20% revisited for patient-related reasons. Conclusion: Two-point nine percent patients made ERVs to the Emergency Department within 72 hours. The most common causes of Early Return Visits in this study are disease-related issues followed by doctor-related issues.