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Scott Harpin, PhD, MPH, RN 1 , Ethan Rosenberg, BS 2 , Jesse Francomano, BA 1 , Christine Gilroy, MD, MSPH 2 1 University of Colorado, College of Nursing & 2 University of Colorado, School of Medicine Emergency Department Use Among a Sample of Shelter-Based Runaway and Homeless Youth Characteristics of sample, n= 33 Gender n= (%) Male 19 (58%) Ethnicity Hispanic, yes 4 (13%) Race Black 7 (21%) White 15 (45%) Other 3 (10%) More than one race 8 (24%) Grade Less than 12 th grade 11 (33%) 12 th grade 18 (55%) Some college 4 (12%) GED, yes 7 (21%) Denver born, yes 10 (30%) Do you have insurance? Yes 23 (69.7%) Insurance type Medicaid/CICP 16 (48%) Self-pay 4 (12%) Don’t know 5 (15%) Regular physician, yes 12 (36%) Emergency Department Use Have you been to the ED in the past year? yes 18 (55%) Number of times in the ED (range = 0- 10) 1-2 times 12 (36%) 3 or more times 6 (18%) Did you have to stay overnight? 4 (13%) Transported to ED by ambulance? yes 10 (38%) Reasons for ED visit: Alcohol-related 7 (23%) Drug-related 11 (35%) BOTH alcohol & drugs 4 (13%) “It was life threatening” 8 (27%) “Didn’t know where else to go” 5 (17%) “I was suicidal” 2 (7%) “I don’t have to pay” 1 (3%) “It was past regular hours” 1 (3%) TAKE HOME MESSAGES: a) Heavy ED use among runaway and homeless teens. b) Drug & ETOH are often-cited reasons for ED visits. c) Educate youth to discern emergent vs. non-emergent situations. Klein (shelter) , 2000 Klein (street) , 2000 Harpin, prelim Price, 2012 Geber, 1997 Respondents with ED Visit (yes) % Odds Ratio Fisher ’s Exact Taken to ED by ambulance? Yes 50% 0.70 0.22 Do you have a regular physician? Yes 28% 0.44 0.30 Do you have insurance? Yes 27% 1.30 0.36
