About 1 in 3 patients diagnosed with cancer in Ontario visited an emergency department (ED) in the 90 days before diagnosis, found a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal . In a study that included more than 650,000 patients diagnosed with cancer between 2014 and 2021 in Ontario, 35% (229,683) had visited an ED in the 90 days before diagnosis. Among patients with ED visits before their cancer diagnosis, 64% had visited once, 23% had visited twice and 13% had three or more visits.
More than half (51%) of patients with an ED visit before diagnosis were admitted to hospital. "The emergency department is not an ideal environment to manage patients with a suspected cancer diagnosis," writes lead author Dr. Keerat Grewal, an emergency physician and clinician scientist at the Schwartz/Reisman Emergency Medicine Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, and ICES, along with co-authors.
"Emergency departments are routinely overcrowded and have limited privacy. Receiving a suspected cancer diagnosis in this setting has been described by patients as distressing." Emergency departments typically provide acute and episodic care, and most are not equipped to provide ongoing care after a suspected cancer diagnosis, which is essential to confirm the diagnosis and ensure patients are seen by the appropriate specialists.
"Although some patients may require hospital admission because of symptoms or complications related to the cancer presentation, relying on.
