Even the total number of visits to GPs in the public health system was reduced after implementation of the ABCDE-triage combined with

public guidance in Espoo EDs. As a probable compensation for this decrease, the number of visits to the private sector GPs increased after the triage was applied in Espoo (Figure ​(Figure4).4). There has been reported to be a correlation between public and private sectors with respect to the demand for health care and health care utilization [22]. If the supply of public health care is considered to be unsatisfactory patients look for care in the private sector [23]. Such a shift Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical may have been observed in the current study, too. When access to EDs was limited for non-urgent patients, part of them probably Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical sought help from the private sector. This was different from our former observation in Vantaa where no such shift to the private sector was seen [16]. Speculatively, the explanation for this difference could be the fact that people in Espoo are more

used Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to visiting the private sector than in Vantaa [16]. Furthermore, the inhabitants in Espoo are somewhat wealthier than those of Vantaa [24] and therefore more able to use relatively expensive private primary care. Of course, other possible confounding selleck screening library factors may exist. Changes in the economic situation and selleck Imatinib occupational health care, supply of services in private health care and occupational health care might alter the use of primary health care. However, there are no published data to support the impact of these latter factors. Yet, we cannot rule out that very strict ABCDE-triage could result in inequality in obtaining health services in society. In Peijas ED, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical use of ABCDE-triage without the possibility of sending E group away from the ED without seeing the doctor did not increase the use of primary health care [16]. On the other hand, this action was associated with a reduction in visits to the doctor by only 8% [16]. In Espoo EDs, most redirected

patients seemed to have Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical relatively self-limiting harmless conditions as can be seen from the ICPC-2 classification of Batimastat the entry reasons in group E (Table ​(Table2).2). Guidelines have been revised from this perspective and the information flow from ED to daytime services (both medical and social) has been enhanced and made systematic. Further studies will have to be carried out to study how well the present system supports these special groups. In patients allocated to group E, the most common reasons for entry to the EDs were respiratory, musculoskeletal, general and unspecified and skin symptoms. Patients complaining of neurological and cardiovascular symptoms were rarely allocated to E group indicating relative reliability of ABCDE-triage. Thus, the triage protocol was well followed by the trained nurses.