Avoidable visits to the paediatric emergency department: associated factors and lessons learned from the pandemic

The relatively low decrease in avoidable visits' ratios between pre-COVID and COVID periods, associated with the similar distribution of attendance during the day and lower odds ratio of avoidable visits during periods when primary care is available, suggests that avoidable visits are a chronical problem of the National Health system's structure and its usage, not having a single factor nor a combination of factors as a driving force. Nevertheless, this study identified several factors associated with avoidable visits to the emergency department. Therefore, it can aid policy makers to create targeted interventions to mitigate this problem.