Usage of unscheduled hospital care by homeless individuals in Dublin, Ireland: a cross-sectional study.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Homeless people lack a secure, stable place to live and experience higher rates of serious illness than the housed population. Studies, mainly from the USA, have reported increased use of unscheduled healthcare by homeless individuals.We sought to compare the use of unscheduled emergency department (ED) and inpatient care between housed and homeless hospital patients in a high-income European setting in Dublin, Ireland.

Setting

A large university teaching hospital serving the south inner city in Dublin, Ireland. Patient data are collected on an electronic patient record within the hospital.

Participants

We carried out an observational cross-sectional study using data on all ED visits (n=47 174) and all unscheduled admissions under the general medical take (

SUBMITTER: Ni Cheallaigh C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5719262 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature