Web Searches Could Predict ER Traffic

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Data from internet searches could help emergency departments predict when high traffic will occur and aid them in preventing crowding.

A study published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine suggests internet data may be key in predicting and preventing overcrowding in emergency rooms.

“Using Internet data to forecast emergency department (ED) visits might enable a model that reflects behavioral trends and thereby be a valid tool for health care providers with which to allocate resources and prevent crowding,” explain researchers.

Health Data Management reports the study found a significant correlation between internet searches on a regional medical website and the emergency department traffic at the regional hospital the next day.

“Website visits may be used to predict ER visits for a geographic region as well as for individual hospitals,” said lead study author Andreas Ekstrom, M.D., of Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. “Looking forward, we might be able to create a model to predict emergency department visits that would enable better matching of personnel scheduling to ER volumes.”

The team used Google Analytics to track the searches on the regional website over the course of a year. They found visits to the website between 6 p.m. and Midnight led to a direct correlation in next day emergency visits.

“For this type of information to be useful, it is important that we be able to predict emergency department visits further into the future than the next day,” Ekstrom said. “This may be possible by further investigating the correlation between website statistics and ER visits. This has the potential benefit of reflecting ongoing behavioral trends, which may allow us to adapt to sudden changes in patient behavior when predicting ER visits.”