Impact of a Primary Care After-Hours Clinic on Avoidable Emergency Department Visits and Costs.

After-hours clinics (AHCs) have been identified as a means to improve primary care access. The study objective was to evaluate the impact of AHC intervention on avoided emergency department (ED) visits and cost savings.

Defining, quantifying, and characterizing adult frequent users of a suburban Canadian emergency department.

Introduction: Frequent emergency department (ED) users are inconsistently defined and poorly studied in Canada. The purpose of this study was to develop uniform definitions, quantify ED burden, and characterize adult frequent users of a suburban community ED.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the administrative database of the WestView ED in Alberta for patients ≥ 18 years of age presenting during the fiscal year of 2010.

Implementation and evaluation of a community-based medication reconciliation (CMR) system at the hospital-community interface of care.

The WestView community-based medication reconciliation (CMR) aims to decrease medication error risk. A clinical pharmacist visits patients' homes within 72 hours of hospital discharge and compares medications in discharge orders, family physicians' charts, community pharmacy profiles and in the home. Discrepancies are discussed and reconciled with the dispenser, hospital prescriber and follow-up care provider.