Main trends of changes in indicators of emergency outpatient care for adult population of the large industrial city

Aim. To study major trends of emergency outpatient visits on the example of the city of Naberezhnye Chelny adult population of different categories by age and sex according to the time indices - the month and day of the week.

Methods. 3,393,351 outpatient visits of the Naberezhnye Chelny adult population for 2011-2013 were analyzed.

Results. The highest attendance rates of adult population to health organizations providing emergency care in outpatient settings were registered in spring (March, April, May) and in autumn (September, October, November) with a peak attendance in April and October. There is a certain pattern of distribution of cases of outpatient visits for acute exacerbation of chronic diseases, and by the day of the week. Thus, a significant number of patients attended health organizations on Monday (26%). In the following days, their number gradually decreased and reached minimum on Saturday and Sunday. During the study period, the number of outpatient visits for acute exacerbation of chronic diseases by adult population on Monday rose by 12.1%. In the structure of emergency outpatient care, proportion of the diseases of respiratory, musculoskeletal and circulatory systems was the highest. During the study period number of visits for diseases of respiratory system increased by 2.4%, circulatory system - by 1.2%, musculoskeletal system - has not changed.

Conclusion. The main workload of medical organizations providing emergency care in outpatient settings is unequally distributed by days of the week and months; there is a need for translating outpatient care on a 7-day work schedule to avoid the maximum load on the outpatient clinic on Monday and in the morning hours as a result of the accumulated over the weekend and night hours incidence.