A cross-sectional study of the clinical characteristics of cancer patients presenting to one tertiary referral emergency department

• Cancer patients visiting the Emergency Department had a high acuity with the majority admitted to the hospital.
• The three key common symptoms included fever, abdominal pain and shortness of breath.
• The majority of cancer patients experienced delays in time to antibiotic.
• The majority of cancer patients presented within one week of chemotherapy.
• Thirty-six per cent of patients died within 12 months of emergency department presentations.

IntroductionThere is increasing evidence of cancer patients presenting to emergency departments (ED). The study aim was to analyse the characteristics of adult cancer patients presenting to one ED. Understanding cancer patient presentations could assist in the development of new models of care.MethodsA 12 month retrospective audit was conducted of a random sample of cancer patients. Demographics and characteristic variables were analysed using descriptive, comparative and correlational statistics.ResultsThe presentation rate for adult cancer patients was 1110 (2.4%) with 290 sampled. The common symptoms were fever (n = 54: 18.6%), abdominal pain (n = 34: 11.7%), and shortness of breath (n = 32: 11%). The majority of patients were allocated a Triage Category 2 (n = 94: 32.4%) or Triage Category 3 (n = 131: 45.2%). The majority of patients presented between 2 and 15 times. For patients administered antibiotics the average time was 119.8 minutes (SD ± 85.5). The average ED length of stay was mean 8.08 hours with 271 patients (93.4%) admitted to the hospital. Of the 290 patients, 105 (36.2%) had died within 12 months of ED presentation.ConclusionThe study has shown that while cancer patients are only a small percentage of ED presentations the vast majority are allocated high triage codes, have high admission rates and high mortality rates.