Emergency department utilization by a jail population

• Published in: The American journal of emergency medicine 2018-09, Vol.36 (9), p.1631-1634
• Main Authors: Maher, Patrick J., Adedipe, Adeyinka A., Sanders, Benjamin L., Buck, Taylor, Craven, Paul, Strote, Jared
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Comorbidity; Demographics; Demography; Emergency department; Emergency medical care; Emergency medical services; Emergency Service, Hospital - statistics & numerical data; Emergency services; Female; Health care; Humans; Imprisonment; Incarcerated; Laboratories; Law enforcement; Length of Stay - statistics & numerical data; Male; Medicaid; Pain; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - statistics & numerical data; Patients; Physicians; Population; Population studies; Prisoners - statistics & numerical data; Prisons; Prisons - statistics & numerical data; Recidivism; Reducing unnecessary visits; Statistical analysis; Urban Population - statistics & numerical data; Vital signs; Washington
• ISSN: 0735-6757; 1532-8171
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ajem.2018.06.034

Incarcerated individuals represent a significant proportion of the US population and face unique healthcare challenges. Scarce articles have been published about emergency department (ED) care of these patients. We studied the ED visits from one urban jail to better describe this population. A cohort study design was used, identifying patients who were sent to the ED from a city jail in 2015. Demographics, triage information, length of stay, number of studies, billing codes, diagnoses, and disposition data were collected. These were compared to the overall ED patient population in the same year. 868 ED visits by jail patients occurred, representing 1.3% of the ED census. Compared to the general population, incarcerated patients were younger (32.1 years vs. 44.0 years, p