Admissions of Refugee and Turkish Children to Emergency Departments

INTRODUCTION: Due to increasing population of refugees, rapid alterations have been experienced in the racial and ethnic composition of our country. Such alterations have increased health services to those from different races/ethnic origins, especially in emergency departments (ED). Here, we aimed to compare health services administered to refugees and Turkish citizens and give recommendations regarding health policies.


METHODS: Data were obtained from the hospital database, and one-year admissions to the pediatric ED were retrospectively analyzed. Such criteria as race, sex, and age of refugees and Turkish citizens were investigated through waiting time before the examination, length of stay in ED, findings of computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasonography (USG), and way of quitting ED.
RESULTS: Refugees were observed to take boys more to ED, apply to ED more during the daytime, be admitted more often with green zone and polyclinic diagnoses, and undergo imaging techniques at a lower rate (p<0.001). However, refugees were also seen to stay in ED for a shorter time and have lower waiting times (p<0.001).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Refugees were detected to benefit ED as visits to outpatient clinics, take younger children and boys more, stay in ED shorter, and undergo imaging techniques less due to such challenges as health insurance and language barriers and inability to access to medical call centers. Although statistically significant differences are considered to be mostly due to the use of ED, more studies are needed to elucidate ethnic/racial differences and implicit biases.