Can after-hours family medicine clinics represent an alternative to emergency departments? Survey of ambulatory patients seeking after-hours care.

Objective: To explore patients' motivations for seeking care in the emergency department (ED) after hours and their willingness to consult their family physicians instead, if their family physicians had been available.

Design: Survey using an 8-item questionnaire.

Setting: Two tertiary care hospital EDs in Ottawa, Ont, from June 4 to 22, 2007, between 5 pm and 9 pm.