UKE's emergency practice relieving emergency department

A research team led by Prof. Dr. Martin Scherer, Director of the Institute and Polyclinic for General Medicine at UKE, and Dr. Ulrich Mayer-Runge, Medical Director of the Central Emergency Department evaluated the treatment of around 3,300 patients as part of the survey. The emergency practice, set up nearby, has led to a reduction in the number of patients treated as outpatients, shorter treatment times and fewer terminations of treatment in the emergency room. General conclusions can also be drawn for the health care system. An emergency practice run by general practitioners near an interdisciplinary emergency department of a university hospital may yet prove an alternative and save costs for emergency patients.

KVH's emergency practice is available in the evenings and at weekends. Patients with less urgent complaints can be sent to the emergency practice to improve the flow of patients in the emergency room. Patients with serious illnesses can be transferred to inpatient care as quickly as possible, urgent outpatients are treated on site, and less serious cases are referred to the appropriate doctor. This concept has proven successful at UKE, the survey found. "We will conduct more multicentre surveys to determine the potential for relief outside urban or university settings," said Prof. Scherer. Other emergency practices can be found in Altona or at the Bundeswehrkrankenhaus and Marienkrankenhaus, among others.

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