Table 5

Emergency department utilisation characteristics


Internal Medicine
Gynaecology


GW
(n = 856)
TW
(n = 698)
GM
(n = 273)
TM
(n = 282)
p1)
GW
(n = 195)
TW
(n = 125)
p1)

Time since onset of complaints




n.s.


n.s.
     Mean (hours)
84
121
157
123

78
119

     Standard deviation
193
378
1041
490

186
390

Transportation (%)




***


n.s.
     Private
49.9
81.0
51.6
74.1

88.2
92.8

     General ambulance service
15.5
4.0
10.6
6.4

3.1
1.6

     Mobile intensive care unit
29.2
12.8
34.1
15.6

5.6
2.4

     Emergency ambulance
5.0
1.5
2.4
3.9

0
0

     Police
0.1
0
1.3
0

0
0

Time of presentation (%)








     Time of day (%)




***


n.s.
          8 am – 8 pm
70.6
56.0
68.8
49.3

73.3
62.4

          8 pm – 8 am
29.1
43.6
31.2
50.7

26.7
37.6

     Day of week (%)




***


n.s.
          Weekday
66.2
53.8
69.1
55.3

58.5
56.0

          Weekend
33.8
46.2
30.9
44.7

41.5
44.0

Need for emergency treatment as perceived by physician




***


n.s.
     Mean
6
5
6
5

5
5

     Standard deviation
3
2
3
3

4
3

Need for admission (%)




***


n.s.
     Yes
37.9
14.3
42.1
23.0

17.9
12.8

Medication given or prescribed




***


n.s.
     Yes
47,3
54,8
42,1
50,2

43,4
44,9

Need for translation (%)




***


***
     Yes
0.5
36.3
0
34.6

1.1
36.3

Interpreter2) (%)




***


***
     Accompanying relative/friend
0.4
32.6
0
24.8

1.0
33.6

     Nurse
0.1
0.7
0
0

0
0

     Physician
0
0.4
0
0.4

0
2.4

     Other hospital personnel
0
0.7
0
0.4

0
0

Length of medical history (number of words)




n.s.


n.s.
     Mean
13
12
12
11

12
14

     Standard deviation
9
7
8
7

8
8


GW = German women, GM= German men, TW = Turkish women, TM = Turkish men; 1)Kruskal-Wallis test; ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001; 2)Differences in percentages results from missing values.

Babitsch et al. BMC Health Services Research 2008 8:82   doi:10.1186/1472-6963-8-82