Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2014
Resource implications of a national health target: The New Zealand experience of a Shorter Stays in Emergency Departments target.
The Shorter Stays in Emergency Departments health target was introduced in New Zealand in 2009. District Health Boards (DHBs) are expected to meet the target with no additional funding or incentives. The costs of implementing such targets have not previously been studied. ⋯ The fact that estimated expenditure on the target was over $50 million without additional funding suggests that DHBs were able to make savings through improved efficiencies and/or that funds were reallocated from other services. The majority of expenditure occurred in the ED. Most of the funds were spent on staff, and this was associated with improved target performance.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2014
Prehospital paediatric burn care: New priorities in paramedic reporting.
The present study evaluates the prehospital care of paediatric burn patients in Queensland (QLD). As first aid (FA) treatment has been shown to affect burn progression and outcome, the FA treatment and the risk of associated hypothermia in paediatric patients were specifically examined in the context of paramedic management of burn patients. ⋯ Despite FA and patient temperatures being important prognostic factors for burn patients, paramedic documentation of these was often incomplete, and there was no consistent use of burns dressings.
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2014
Management of retrieval service patients within a paediatric emergency department.
The Victorian Paediatric Emergency Transport Service (PETS) transports critically unwell children to tertiary paediatric hospitals. Children not directly admitted to ICU go to a tertiary ED. These patients might require prolonged and high-level care. In light of the National Emergency Access Target, we describe this cohort, clinical care needs and process measures. ⋯ Most patients retrieved to the ED ultimately go to a ward rather than ICU and most have an ED stay in excess of National Emergency Access Target. Several retrieval associated care issues, such as timely and appropriate ward disposition, can be addressed by administrative changes.