A step-by-step approach to patients leaving against medical advice (AMA) in the emergency department.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Patients leaving against medical advice (AMA) can be distressing for emergency physicians trying to navigate the medical, social, psychological, and legal ramifications of the situation in a fast-paced and chaotic environment. To guide physicians in fulfilling their obligation of care, we aimed to synthesize the best approaches to patients leaving AMA.

Methods

We conducted a scoping review across various fields of work, research context and methodology to synthesize the most relevant strategies for emergency physicians attending patients leaving AMA. We searched Medline, CINAHL, PSYCHO Legal Source, PsycINFO, PsycEXTRA, Psychological and Behavioural Sciences collection, SocIndex and Scopus. Search strategies included controlled vocabulary (i.e., MESH) and keywords

SUBMITTER: Trepanier G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9628312 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature