Donate Now
  • What We're Working On
Use of the Emergency Department by Persons with Inflammatory Arthritis Conditions
Use-of-ER-by-Arthritis-patients-PLS-image
Scientific Study Title:
Acute Care Use by Patients with Inflammatory Arthritis Conditions: Health System Impact and Solutions for Ensuring Appropriate Ambulatory Care Access
Start Date:
  • 2022
End Date:
  • 2023
Research Category
Tags

Why do this research?

We did this research to find out why people with long-term inflammatory arthritis go to the emergency department when they need more care. There are certainly symptoms or conditions where it is appropriate to go to the emergency department, such as for a heart attack or a broken bone. However, sometimes people go to the emergency department because they can’t get an appointment with their family doctor or rheumatologist for a non-emergency concern in a timely manner. Many of these visits might be avoidable, so by better understanding these visits, we hope to find ways to improve care and reduce unnecessary emergency department use.

What will be done?

We looked at Alberta healthcare data over several years to see how often people with inflammatory forms of arthritis used the emergency department, and why. We wanted to know about the frequency, timing, and reasons for emergency department visits, and the type of care patients received. Specifically, we:

  • Used administrative healthcare records to track the frequency of emergency department visits, the urgency of visits, and whether people were admitted to the hospital.
  • Used survey responses collected directly from patients with inflammatory arthritis to learn more about their reasons for visiting the emergency department, and their experiences with healthcare.

What did we find?

We found that people with inflammatory arthritis go to the emergency department for reasons such as arthritis flare-ups, chest pain, infections, or injuries, and that some of these visits could be avoided with better outpatient care. Some patients reported that they often tried to get care elsewhere first, like with their rheumatologist or family doctor, but health system challenges pushed them to go to the emergency department instead. Rural patients visited the emergency department more often and faced more challenges in getting timely care. A lot of people didn’t follow up with a rheumatologist after their emergency department visit, and many weren’t even referred for any form of follow-up.

What is the impact for people living with arthritis?

This study shows us that by improving access to regular arthritis care and better coordinating between different parts of the healthcare system, we could reduce unnecessary emergency department visits and make care more efficient and less disruptive for patients with inflammatory arthritis.

Research Team

The Research Team

Principal Investigator

  • Dr. Cheryl Barnabe, Rheumatology, MD, MSc, FRCPC, Senior Scientist, Arthritis Research Canada (University of Calgary)

Co-Investigators

  • Claire Barber, MD, PhD, FRCPC, Research Scientist, Arthritis Research Canada (University of Calgary)
  • Steven Katz
  • Meghan Elliot
  • Brian Holroyd
  • Joanne Homik
  • Stephanie Keeling
  • Eddy Lang
  • Katie Lin
  • Nadia Luca
  • Patrick McLane

Media and Infographics

Related Research

What We're Working On Right Now

Exploring a New Immune Cell Therapy for People with Autoimmune Diseases

Systemic sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus are serious autoimmune diseases that can cause damage to many organs including the skin, lungs and kidneys. In this project, we will study a new type of treatment that may better control these diseases by targeting the immune cells that cause them. If successful, it could reduce inflammation, slow or stop disease progression, and may even help reset the immune system, so that some patients no longer need long-term immune-suppressing medications.
Read More

Understanding how scleroderma affects people over time

People living with scleroderma experience challenges such as pain, disability, and mental health concerns, but we still don’t know much about how these problems change over time or why some people do better than others. For this research project, our goal is to improve our understanding of how scleroderma affects people’s daily lives and identify factors that may predict changes in their health.
Read More

How can we help Canadians age at home to improve health outcomes and support a sustainable healthcare system?

As Canada’s population ages, home care is important for helping older adults remain safely within their homes. Our research team is linking data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging with health records in British Columbia, Ontario, and New Brunswick, to track patterns of paid and unpaid home care use over time.
Read More