Volume-ED - Health Quality Ontario (HQO)

INDICATOR NAME

Name

Total number of patients who had an emergency department visit

Alternate Name

Number of patients who completed an emergency department visit

INDICATOR DESCRIPTION

Description

This indicator measures the total number of patients that completed an emergency department (ED) visit. The ED visit begins with the earlier of triage date/time or registration date/time and ends at the date/time when a patient is admitted to the hospital or discharged, transferred, or leaves the ED (non-admitted patients).

HQO Reporting tool/product

Public reporting

Dimension

Timely

Type

Process

DEFINITION AND SOURCE INFORMATION

Unit of Measurement

Number of patients

Calculation Methods

Total count of ED visits meeting the inclusion/exclusion criteria.

Inclusion Criteria:

ED visits with a valid and known registration date/time or triage date/time and a valid and known date/time patient left the ED or disposition date/time
Admitted Patients: unscheduled emergency visits with Disposition Codes 06 - 07
Non-admitted Patients: unscheduled emergency visits with Disposition Codes 01, 03-05, 08-15

Exclusion Criteria:

Scheduled visits to the emergency department
ED visits with Visit Disposition 02 (Left without being seen or triaged)
Visits with both unknown/invalid registration and triage date/time OR with unknown/invalid patient left ED date/time
Negative ER LOS (i.e. the registration or triage date/time is after the date/time that the patient left ER)
Duplicate records within the same functional centre

Numerator (short description i.e. not inclusions/exclusions)

Denominator (short description i.e. not inclusions/exclusions)

Adjustment (risk, age/sex standardization)- generalized

None

Data Source

National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS)

Data provided to HQO by

Cancer Care Ontario (CCO)

Reported Levels of comparability /stratifications (defined)

Acuity Level, Institution, Time

OTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION

Caveats and Limitations

1. Scheduled visits to the ED are excluded from this indicator. 2. This indicator reflects the number of ED visits, which does not necessarily equal the number of individuals.