Background and Aims:
To identify the common reasons for leaving against the medical advice (LAMA) and the rate of going to another hospital or admission for the same complaint within 24 hours after LAMA.
Methods:
This is a cross-sectional study using a telephone interview. The study population is patients who left against medical advice between January 1st, 2022, and December 31st, 2022, in the emergency department at King Khaled University Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Results:
The top three reasons for LAMA: long waiting time (40.2%); the patient’s condition improved and there is no need to stay (32.5%): and not satisfied with the quality of the service provided (20.1%). 43.3% went to another hospital for the same condition. 20.6% were admitted to a hospital after LAMA.
Conclusions:
This study shed light on the most common reasons for LAMA in the emergency room as well as identifying the rate of LAMA patients who went to another hospital and/or were admitted. Our findings provide valuable and new information regarding LAMA in the emergency department that would inform the healthcare authorities to develop and implement policies that will reduce the occurrence of LAMA.
Key words: LAMA, DAMA, leaving against medical advice, emergency department, prevalence, reasons, discharged against medical advice
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