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During the treatment course, cancer patients are prone to develop acute symptoms that are either treatment-related or cancer-related. Emergency services are available during the whole day to manage the acute problems of patients with chronic diseases, including cancer patients. Previous studies have shown that palliative care (PC) provided at the beginning of stage IV lung cancer diagnosis helped to reduce emergency visits and increase survival rates. A retrospective study was conducted on lung cancer patients with confirmed histopathology of non-small cell cancer and small cell lung cancer who visited the emergency department (ED) from 2019 to 2021. The demographic data, disease-related-data causes of ED visits (including disposition), number of emergency visits, and palliative referral and impact on the outcome and frequency of emergency visits were reviewed. Of a total number of 107 patients, the majority were male (68%), the median age was 64 years old, and almost half of them were smokers (51%). More than 90% of the patients were diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), more than 90% with stage IV, and a minority underwent surgery and radiation therapy. The total number of ED visits amounted to 256, and 70% of the reasons for ED visits were respiratory problems (36.57%), pain (19.4%), and gastrointestinal (GI) causes (19%), respectively. PC referral was performed only for 36% of the participants, but it had no impact on the frequency of ED visits (p-value > 0.05). Besides, the frequency of ED visits had no impact on the outcome (p-value > 0.05), whereas PC had an impact on the live status (p-value < 0.05). Our study had similar findings to another study regarding the most common reason for ED visits among lung cancer patients. Improving PC engagement for patient care would render those reasons preventable and affordable. The palliative referral improved survival among our participants but had no impact on the frequency of emergency visits, which may be due to the small number of patients and the different populations included in our research. A national study should be conducted to obtain a larger sample and to determine the impact of PC on ED visits.

Background Research evidence exists that poor prognosis is common in Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS‐CoV) patients. Objectives This study estimates recovery delay intervals and identifies associated factors in a sample of Saudi Arabian patients admitted for suspected MERS‐CoV and diagnosed by rRT‐PCR assay. Methods A multicenter retrospective study was conducted on 829 patients admitted between September 2012 and June 2016 and diagnosed by rRT‐PCR procedures to have MERS‐CoV and non‐MERS‐CoV infection in which 396 achieved recovery. Detailed medical charts were reviewed for each patient who achieved recovery. Time intervals in days were calculated from presentation to the initial rRT‐PCR diagnosis (diagnosis delay) and from the initial rRT‐PCR diagnosis to recovery (recovery delay). Results The median recovery delay in our sample was 5 days. According to the multivariate negative binomial model, elderly (age ≥ 65), MERS‐CoV infection, ICU admission, and abnormal radiology findings were associated with longer recovery delay (adjusted relative risk (aRR): 1.741, 2.138, 2.048, and 1.473, respectively). Camel contact and the presence of respiratory symptoms at presentation were associated with a shorter recovery delay (expedited recovery) (aRR: 0.267 and 0.537, respectively). Diagnosis delay is a positive predictor for recovery delay (r = .421; P = .001). Conclusions The study evidence supports that longer recovery delay was seen in patients of older age, MERS‐CoV infection, ICU admission, and abnormal radiology findings. Shorter recovery delay was found in patients who had camel contact and respiratory symptoms at presentation. These findings may help us understand clinical decision making on directing hospital resources toward prompt screening, monitoring, and implementing clinical recovery and treatment strategies.