Table 1 General descriptions of hospitals and EDs*
| Â | EP (N= 38) | No EP (N= 27) | P value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hospital features | Number of hospital beds# | 456 (200–1100) | 349 (144–600) | 0.059 | |
Distance to the nearest other hospital (km)# | 18.3 (2–40) | 22 (1–80) | 0.332 | ||
Location§ | City | 15 | 10 | 0.494 | |
Urban | 13 | 12 | |||
Rural | 10 | 4 | |||
Type§ | Academic ^ | 5 | 0 | 0.124 | |
Trauma center | 1 | 1 | |||
General | 28 | 25 | |||
Facilities§ | Intensive care | 38 | 25 | 0.329 | |
Coronary care | 38 | 24 | 0.133 | ||
Stroke unit | 38 | 25 | 0.329 | ||
Emergency cardiac care | 20 | 12 | 0.690 | ||
Acute admission ward$ | 3 | 0 | 0.371 | ||
ED features | Patients per year# | 24.613 (7,818–48,230) | 19,408 (8,100–42,000) | 0.048* | |
ED admissions per year# | 6,221 (2,100–10,800) | 5,418 (2,000–9,975) | 0.287 | ||
Self referrals (%)# | 34 (0–80) | 29 (5–65) | 0.427 | ||
Facilities§ | Open 24/7 | 38 | 25 | 0.847 | |
Triage system | 34 | 23 | 1.000 | ||
Shock room | 38 | 20 | 0.004* | ||
Observation unit | 8 | 9 | 0.410 | ||