Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine

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In recent years, a new manner has been common practice in emergency departments (EDs) of governmental hospitals in Iran, in which, of course illegally, patients are encouraged to self-discharge or refer to other EDs. This is done by giving incomplete or even false information and deceiving patients. The purpose of this study is to identify the underlying causes from the point of view of EDs' personnel to clarify the root of this burden for authorities and pave the way for more studies. This is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytic study, gathering opinions via questionnaire and/or direct interview with open-ended questions. During November and December 2009, hospital managers, hospital heads, faculty members, residents in specialties involved with the ED, interns, ED nurses, and nurse supervisors were interviewed regarding the frequency of such instances in their hospital, the main violators, and its possible causes and determinants.In this study 114 persons from different groups took part. From participants' point of view, the main violators in EDs are junior residents and interns 48 (42.1%) participants pointed to junior residents and 29 (25.4%) participants found interns responsible. The estimated number of patients which were refused during a week was stated as 18.1 ± 15.6 (range between 0 to 90). Among participants remarks, the most important factors which lead staff to non-admission were high work load, overcrowding of EDs, lack of facilities, lack of any motivation or incentive for doing tough tasks, inappropriate patient transfer by city emergency system, bad policies and rules, lack of sufficient supervision from deputies, and improper work sharing between different levels.Patient non-admission and diversion through deception is a common practice among EDs of educational hospitals in Tehran. High work load and overcrowding of these centers should be considered a high priority target for interventions. Further studies are highly suggested to find appropriate solutions. In future studies, junior residents and interns should be considered as main target groups.

Keywords: non-admission, patient deception, emergency, self-discharge

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