Background: Non-urgent patients’ visits to emergency department (ED) is a global concern. In-appropriate ED visits places burden on the ED which limits emergency conditions handling, access to good quality services, raises health care costs and compromise patients’ satisfaction. Objective: We aimed to assess prevalence of non-urgent visits to the ED in two main public hos-pitals in Madinah Region namely king Fahad Hospital (KFH) and Madinah General Hospital (MGH). Furthermore, determinants of non-urgent ED visits, such as sociodemographic factors and patients’ knowledge on ED were evaluated. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 280 ED patients attending KFH and MGH. Patients were classified into urgent and non-urgent ED cases according to the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS). Data were collected through a structured interview-based questionnaire covering sociodemographic characteristics, level of triage, knowledge, and preference of ED as well as reasons for ED preference. Results: The overall rate of non-urgent visits to the ED was 55%. Non-urgent visits were signifi-cantly higher among younger age group ≤25 years (81%), singles (70.5%), students (77.6%) and Madinah residents (58.3%) (p<0.05). Among non-urgent visitors, 59.7% reported low/moderate ED knowledge. Moreover, 73% had previous experience with primary health care (PHC) where 85.1% preferred the ED over PHC. Rapid medical care (52.9%), better quality of care (41.2%) and easier access to the ED (38.6%) were the most common reported reasons for preferring ED. Conclusion: Efforts should be made to decrease the burden on ED. The findings of this study may help health care planners to develop targeted strategies to minimize non-urgent ED visits. It is important to conduct campaigns to educate the public about the appropriate utilization of PHC and ED services.

Keywords: Keywords: Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS); Emergency department; non-urgent visits; Triage; Primary Health Care (PHC); patient preference; Saudi Arabia