National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2007 U.S. Emergency Department Visits

117 million emergency department visits in the United States during 2007 are estimated from a national probability sample. The report, authored by Richard W Niska of the National Center for Health Statistics, presents statistics on hospital, patient, and visit characteristics. Data includes leading causes of injury, insurance coverage, and the use of electronic medical records.

Use Cases

• Analyze trends in pediatric emergency care based on the reported proportion of visits by children to pediatric EDs.
• Study the relationship between insurance coverage and emergency department use based on Medicaid/SCHIP visit statistics.
• Model the burden of specific conditions like asthma based on the reported visit rate per 10,000 young children.
• Investigate injury epidemiology based on the reported leading cause of ED visits from unintentional falls.

Strengths

• Provides national estimates derived from a weighted probability sample, representing about 117 million visits.
• Includes specific, quantified findings such as 62% of EDs using electronic medical records and 2% of visits resulting in observation unit admission.
• Covers multiple dimensions including hospital characteristics, patient demographics, and visit details.

Limitations

• Data is from 2007, which may limit relevance for contemporary analysis without more recent updates.
• Row count and column-level documentation are unknown, making detailed suitability assessment difficult.
• The underlying sample data and specific file formats are not described.

Provenance

Source

National Center for Health Statistics

Collection Method

Data are from the 2007 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which uses a national probability sample of visits to emergency departments of nonfederal general and short-stay hospitals.

Time Range

2007

Geography

United States