Analysis of the characteristics of interconsultations performed by emergency physicians to other hospital specialists and their evolution over time.

Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the type of interconsultations carried out in the Emergency Department (ED) to hospital specialists and analyze their pattern over time.

Methods: The study was carried out during the period from 2006 to 2012. It was carried out at EDs attending to all types of interconsultations except pediatrics and obstetrics-gynecology. There were no changes in physical structure, number of personnel, or organization during the study period. The main measurements taken were as follows: monthly ED census, number of interconsultations and specialties consulted, main reason for presentation at the ED during the first (2006) and last year (2012), and, for specialties demonstrating substantial quantitative changes, main reasons for the interconsultation from the ED at the beginning (2006) and the end (2012) of the study. Linear regression analysis was carried out for the relationship between time and number of interconsultations.

Results: A total of 628 256 care interventions were carried out, with 128 008 interconsultations (20.4%). Orthopedic surgery and traumatology, psychiatry, and general and digestive surgery were the departments most frequently consulted (54.5% of the interconsultations). Consultations significantly reduced over time (R=0.29; P<0.001) but the percentage of interconsultations (related to ED census) remained unchanged (R=0.01; P=0.49). The behavior related to specialties was heterogeneous: consultations to general and digestive surgery, hematology and hemostasis, and urology specialists decreased, whereas to thoracic surgery, angiology and vascular surgery, neurology, nephrology, neurosurgery, psychiatry, orthopedic surgery and traumatology, and critical care medicine specialists increased. Some of the reasons for specialist consultation also significantly changed over time.

Conclusion: The study of interconsultations allows us to identify areas of lesser autonomy of emergency physicians. Changes in the pattern of these interconsultations over time may reflect both learning processes and changes in the healthcare circuits in the ED.