DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GERMAN AND FOREIGN-BO RN PATIENTS WITH REGARD TO GYNECOLOGICAL CARE IN AN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

Background: Analyse of factors referring to ethnical origin that indic ate unequal approach as well as different care conditions for foreign- born female patients compared to German female patients in hospital. S tudy design and methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional study was ba sed on the examination of 258 German and 311 non-German female patient s in the Emergency Department of Gynaecology of a Berlin hospital affo rding maximum care. Statistical evaluation of data was performed, the data having been selected according to defined criteria (p < 0.05). Re sults: There is a very high presentation of foreign-born female patien ts in the emergency department, although an adequate infrastructure is lacking. Foreign-born women frequent the gynaecological emergency dep artment more often on weekends and in the late evening probably for so cial reasons. An almost equal spectrum of symptoms an equal proportion of psychosomatic diagnoses was seen. The results do not indicate any significant difference in the type and frequency of treatment for psyc hosomatic disease. Foreign-born female patients were given treatment m ore frequently than German female patients, This ''overtreatment'' mig ht be a compensation for language difficulties. Conclusion: There is l ess medical documentation on foreign female patients. Deficient or no documentation may express different medical behaviour in respect of fe male patients and point to unequal care conditions. Fortunately, insuf ficient or incomplete health history of foreign female patients do not influence the quality of diagnosis and treatment.