Gli anziani e il fenomeno dell'accesso improprio al Pronto Soccorso.

[Autom. eng. transl.] In recent years in Italy the overcrowding of emergency-emergency structures, closely connected to the phenomenon of improper access to the Emergency Department (PS), is recording a progressive and constant increase, with negative consequences both for users and operators. The present study aims to investigate the influence of some individual variables on the decision to go to the PS in the absence of a real urgency. In particular, through self-report questionnaires, socio-demographic factors, specific personality characteristics, the level of health literacy and the level of trust with regard to the General Practitioner were investigated. The research sample consists of 198 participants aged between 23 and 89 years. The results obtained show that different orders of factors, such as age, level of anxiety, the need for cognitive closure and the medical knowledge actually possessed by the participants, have a significant influence on how to access the PS. In particular, it emerges that the elderly use the PS in a significantly more appropriate way than the young; moreover, a good level of medical-health knowledge, a low level of anxiety and a poor need for cognitive closure are associated with a significantly more adequate mode of access to the PS.