Back for more: A qualitative study of emergency department reattendance for asthma

Abstract

Objective: To explore the reasons why individuals recurrently present with asthma to hospital emergency departments. Design: A predominantly qualitative study in which participants were interviewed in-depth about their asthma. Data on medication use, respiratory health and asthma knowledge were also collected, and asthma severity was determined from medical records. Setting: A tertiary teaching hospital and a suburban hospital emergency department (ED) from 1 March to 30 April 2000, and a rural hospital ED from 1 July to 31 August 2000. Participants: The participation rate was 32% of an initial 195 ED attendees (183 of whom were eligible) aged 18-70 years: 32 had presented to an ED for asthm..