Investigation of the Reasons and Frequency of Oncology Patients Over the Age of 65 Who Apply To the Emergency Department

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to investigate frequency and causes of emergency department visits among oncology patients aged 65 and older. Method In this cross-sectional, descriptive and comparative study, data were collected a questionnaire form from a single emergency deparment of a university hospital in & Idot;zmir, West Turkey between January 2022 and July 2022. Data were analyzed by using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 software. Results A total 125 patients were included in the study. The most common causes of patients to the emergency derparment were infection, pain, nausea-vomiting, and dyspnea. A significant difference was found between the reason for the patient's emergency department visit and their knowledge of when to seek medical help (p < 0.05). Conclusion The recurrent visits of cancer patients to emergency departments suggest an inadequacy of comprehensive information available to both patients and their caregivers concerning the pursuit of emergency medical intervention.