RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Screening of mental health and substance users in frequent users of a general Swiss emergency department

Background: The objectives of this study were to determine the proportions of psychiatric and substance use disorders suffered by emergency departments ’ (EDs’) frequent users compared to the mainstream ED population, to evaluate how effectively these disorders were diagnosed in both groups of patients by ED physicians, and to determine if these disorders were predictive of a frequent use of ED services. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study with concurrent and retrospective data collection. Between November 2009 and June 2010, patients ’ mental health and substance use disorders were identified prospectively in face-to-face research interviews using a screening questionnaire (i.e. researcher screening). These data were compared to the data obtained from a retrospective medical chart review performed in August 2011, searching for mental health and substance use disorders diagnosed by ED physicians and recorded in the patients ’ ED medical files (i.e. ED physician diagnosis). The sample consisted of 399 eligible adult patients (≥18 years old) admitted to the urban, general ED of a University Hospital. Among them, 389 patients completed the researcher screening. Two hundred and twenty frequent users defined by>4 ED visits in the previous twelve months were included and compared to 169 patients with ≤4 ED visits in the same period (control group). Results: Researcher screening showed that ED frequent users were more likely than members of the control grou