Knowledge and attitude towards emergency department utilization in Riyadh

BACKGROUND: Because the emergency department (ED) is such an important element of health care, efficient usage must be taken into account while planning and creating the scope of service for emergency care. Our study’s goal is to assess the participants’ knowledge and attitude towards ED. Concerns among the general public over the use of emergency rooms (ER). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out among the sample of Saudi Arabia’s population of Riyadh City in the year 2020. There were 440 people who responded. The information was gathered with a self-administered questionnaire. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: As a result of the findings, 22 symptoms were reported as the cause of ER visits, ranging from acute, urgent, and cold symptoms. Of these, 45.7% of those polled said they visited an ER if they get sick, then seek primary care, online consultation, and community pharmacy, which was 28.2%, 17.5%, and 8.6%, respectively. Around 14.32% of the visitors had a chronic condition, with asthma accounting for 41.3%, diabetes for 23.8%, and hypertension for 11.1%. In terms of the frequency of visits, 66.4% said they visit the emergency care once in every 3–6 months, and 47.7% said they visit once in a month. With a mean score of 16.16 ± 3.02/high in knowledge, the results revealed that the participants possessed a high degree of knowledge, with a significant difference among married group (F = 4.83, P < 0.05 = 0.003), and those from 24 to 29 years of age (F = 3.26, P < 0.05 = 0.012). CONCLUSIONS: Because there were characteristics connected to population knowledge, limited hours, and ED overutilization without necessity, the findings of our study could be valuable in understanding the reasons for ED overutilization without necessity. In Riyadh’s primary health care centers (PHCCs), there are limited medical resources. Thus, we recommend that the primary health care (PHC) admission process should be improved putting in place a triage mechanism that determines the best location for patient care that is suited.