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Emergency and ambulatory care

Emergency and ambulatory care cyin_master

Emergency and ambulatory care is one of the largest-volume patient activities in the country, making it a key component of the continuum of health services in Canada. CIHI maintains several databases to provide stakeholders with insight on visit volumes, patient demographics, clinical and service-specific data related to emergency departments, day surgery and outpatient and community-based clinics. These databases include the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS), the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) and the Hospital Morbidity Database (HMDB).

Explore information on emergency and ambulatory care. Browse indicators, data tables, reports and other key resources.

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Indicators

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Reports and releases

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Emergency and ambulatory care: Reports and releases

Emergency and ambulatory care: Reports and releases cyin_master

This page lists emergency care reports, stories, infographics and release summaries.

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Wait times for priority procedures in Canada, 2024

  • Release summary
  • Published
Explore recent trends in volumes and wait times for hip and knee replacements, cataract and cancer surgeries, and diagnostic imaging at national and provincial levels.

Commonwealth Fund survey, 2023

  • Release summary
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The 2023 Commonwealth Fund survey looked at the views and health care experiences of the general population age 18+ in 10 high-income countries, including Canada.

NACRS emergency department visits and lengths of stay

  • Release summary
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Learn more about emergency department visits and lengths of stay by province and territory, based on data submitted to the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System.

COVID-19 hospitalization and emergency department statistics

  • Release summary
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​​Explore the most recent information on hospitalizations and emergency department visits for patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19, including volumes, patient demographics and other key factors.

SNOMED CT CA to ICD-10-CA maps

  • Project
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​Provides an overview of the CIHI SNOMED CT CA to ICD-10-CA maps to support semi-automated coding in an electronic system. ​

Emergency and ambulatory care: Data tables

Emergency and ambulatory care: Data tables cyin_master

This page lists data tables that provide information about emergency and ambulatory care.

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Surgeries Impacted by COVID-19, March 2020 to September 2022 — Data Tables (XLSX)

  • Data tables
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​These data tables contain information on the estimated number of surgeries completed in Canada for 2 periods: pre-pandemic (January to December 2019) and pandemic (March 2020 to September 2022). Data is provided by age and surgery type at the national…

Emergency and ambulatory care: Indicators

Emergency and ambulatory care: Indicators cyin_master

This page lists CIHI’s indicators on emergency and ambulatory care.

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Asthma Emergency Department Visits: Volume and Median Length of Stay

  • Indicator
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This indicator provides the number of emergency department (ED) visits and median length of stay (in minutes) for asthma. The length of stay is the time elapsed from the patient's registration to the time he or she physically leaves the ED.

Emergency and ambulatory care: Tools

Emergency and ambulatory care: Tools cyin_master

This page lists CIHI’s performance reporting tools that contain emergency and ambulatory care data.

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Data Preview for Indicators Tool

  • Tool
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The Data Preview for Indicators web tool is used by stakeholders to review or validate their indicator results before they are made publicly available.

Quick Stats

  • Tool
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Quick Stats are a series of free, publicly available reports that provide aggregate-level data about health care in Canada.

Your Health System: Insight

  • Tool
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Your Health System: Insight is an analytical tool that allows health care providers and analysts to dig deeper into indicator results. Find out more about what Insight can offer, how to get access and the data refresh schedule.

Emergency and ambulatory care: Data holdings

Emergency and ambulatory care: Data holdings cyin_master

National Ambulatory Care Reporting System

The National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS) contains data on hospital- and community-based ambulatory care: day surgery, outpatient and community-based clinics and emergency departments.

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Comprehensive Ambulatory Classification System (CACS)

  • Metadata
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A national grouping methodology for ambulatory care patient data submitted to either the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) or National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS).

Hospital Morbidity Database (HMDB) metadata

  • Metadata
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Metadata for the HMDB, which contains administrative, clinical and demographic information on inpatient separations from acute care hospitals. This includes data from Quebec, which is appended to the DAD to create the HMDB.

Wait time metadata

  • Metadata
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Metadata on surgical procedure wait times, including hip and knee replacement, hip fracture repair, cataract surgery, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), radiation therapy and diagnostic imaging (MRI and CT scan).

Emergency and ambulatory care: News and podcasts

Emergency and ambulatory care: News and podcasts cyin_master

This page contains media releases, bulletins and podcast episodes about emergency and ambulatory care.

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Regrouped Historical Data Dissemination Bulletin (PDF)

  • Bulletin
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This bulletin describes how clients can access regrouped historical acute inpatient and ambulatory care data from the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) and National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS).

Emergency Departments in Crisis — Dr. Fraser Mackay and David Leary

  • Podcast episode
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In this episode of the CHIP, we are joined by Dr. Fraser Mackay, an emergency physician, and David Leary, a veteran paramedic, to discuss the ongoing crisis gripping emergency departments across the country, the impact on workers and patients, and what’s…

Frailty in Canada — Dr. Marcel Émond

  • Podcast episode
  • Published
In this episode of the CHIP, guest host Jeanie Lacroix speaks with Dr. Marcel Émond, certified emergency physician at the level-1 trauma centre of the CHU de Québec — Hôpital de l’Enfant-Jésus, about the risks of frailty.

Frailty in Canada — Dr. Kenneth Rockwood

  • Podcast episode
  • Published
On this episode of the CHIP, host Avis Favaro speaks with Dr. Kenneth Rockwood, clinical research professor of frailty and aging at Dalhousie University, about the risks of frailty.

More than 120,000 Canadians hospitalized for COVID-19 last year

  • Media release
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​Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 increased by 19% in 2022–2023, while emergency department (ED) visits due to the virus decreased in the same time period, according to the latest data released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).

Emergency and ambulatory care: Education resources

Emergency and ambulatory care: Education resources cyin_master

Through our Learning Centre, CIHI provides opportunities for health professionals to understand our evolving reporting systems and the application of our standards, data and analytics. We offer many courses and resources for a variety of audiences, including clinicians, assessors, data submitters and analysts, decision-makers, policy planners and researchers.

Courses and resources are available in a variety of formats, including eLearning modules, PDF and page-based documents, live and recorded web conferences, and videos.

On this page:

 

Learning opportunities

Resources offered through the Learning Centre include the following:

 

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With 300 learning products in a variety of areas, we’re sure to have something that meets your needs — and our online courses will always fit your schedule.

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Other education resources

Resources offered through CIHI include the following:

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Case mix

  • Resource collection
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Case-mix grouping methodologies help health care facilities plan and manage their services.

Mapping COVID-19 Codes: ICD-10-CA to WHO’s Base ICD-10

  • Job aid
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​This job aid provides information about mapping codes in version 2022 ICD-10-CA to codes in version 2019 of the World Health Organization’s base ICD-10, plus code titles for COVID-19.

Canadian MIS Database (CMDB) User Guide (PDF)

  • User guide
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​The CMDB User Guide provides information on the composition, processing and use of data from the Canadian Management Information System (MIS) Database (CMDB).

Population Grouping Methodology in Action (PDF)

  • Information sheet
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​​This information sheet highlights the main applications of CIHI’s population grouping methodology using chronic health conditions as an example.