Papers of the Week

sickle cell disease (SCD) is a chronic illness. Individuals affected by this disease are at risk for lifelong complications including episodes of acute pain, chronic pain and multi-organ injury that leads to reduced quality of life and a shortened life span. There is a wealth of data on acute care utilization for SCD in the United States. However, data from the Caribbean region is limited. The objective of this study is to explore Emergency Department (ED) utilization for SCD in St. Vincent and the Grenadines by describing: i) the characteristics of SCD related ED encounters; ii) the urgency of these encounters as defined by resource utilization; iii) the disposition for these ED encounters.