General
frequent flyer
What does frequent flyer mean?
ED slang for the patient who's back again, and again, and again. Sometimes it's chronic illness with no GP to fall back on. Sometimes it's mental health, addiction, or nowhere else to go. Sometimes it's just somebody who's worked out where the warmth and sandwiches are. Officially called 'super-utilisers' in polite write-ups; staff just say frequent flyer. A small handful drive a huge slice of total visits — one San Diego hospital found 3% of patients accounted for 16.5% of ED traffic.
"Triage rolled her eyes — he's a frequent flyer, third time this month."
Origin
Borrowed from airline loyalty programmes; widespread in US/UK emergency medicine since the 90s.
Frequently asked questions
Is it pejorative?
Yes — and the bias is documented to make clinicians slower to take new symptoms seriously. Hence the push to retire it.
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