Aim: In this study we aimed to compare nine day holiday period (HP) and nine day out of holiday period (OHP) emergency department (ED) visits according to number, feature and satisfaction of patients prospectively.

Materials and method: Identification information of the patients, complaints, health insurance, any presentation to another hospital, outcome, time duration of emergency department visit and satisfaction of patients were recorded. Data were analysed via SPSS 10.05 program. Descriptive features expressed as mean ± standart deviation, number of cases and percentages. Chi-square test for nominal data and Mann - Whitney U tests for ordinal data were used in statistical analysis.

Results: Totally 847 patients, 440 in HP and 407 in OHP, admitted to ED. 19.1% (84 patients) of the admissions was due to trauma, 80.9% (356 patients) due to nontraumatic causes in HP, distirubution was 19.7% (80 patients) and 80.3% (327 patients) in OHP (p=0.835). Outcome of the patients during HP and OHP were not different statistically (p=0.074). Time spent in ED was 60.32±53.1 minutes in HP, and 75.24±60.6 minutes in OHP (p<0.001). Mean patient satisfaction score rate was 4.69±0.544 in HP and 4.70±0.550 in OHP and no statistically significant difference was found between two periods (p=0.875).

Conclusions: While no significant difference was detected in respect to complaints, demographic features and satisfaction of patients during HP but time spent in ED was shorter. For regional differences, studies performed in different geographic regions are necessary.