Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2014
Parental satisfaction with paediatric care, triage and waiting times.
The present study aims to determine parental and guardian's perceptions of paediatric emergency care and satisfaction with care, waiting times and triage category in a community ED. ⋯ On the basis of the present study, patient perceptions and overall satisfaction of care does not appear to be primarily influenced by time spent waiting or receiving treatment. Attempts made at the triage process to ensure that semi-urgent patients have reasonable expectations of waiting times might provide an opportunity to improve these patients' expectations and perceptions.
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2014
ReviewReview article: What makes a good healthcare quality indicator? A systematic review and validation study.
Indicators measuring aspects of performance to assess quality of care are often chosen arbitrarily. The present study aimed to determine what should be considered when selecting healthcare quality indicators, particularly focusing on the application to emergency medicine. Structured searches of electronic databases were supplemented by website searches of quality of care and benchmarking organisations, citation searches and discussions with experts. ⋯ Although using the tool took more time than implicit gestalt decision making: median (interquartile range) 190 (43-352) min versus 17.5 (3-34) min, their rankings changed after using the tool. To inform the appraisal of quality improvement indicators for emergency medicine, a comprehensive list of indicator attributes was identified, validated, developed into a tool and piloted. Although expert consensus is still required, this tool provides an explicit basis for discussions around indicator selection.
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Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2014
'Did not waits': A regional Australian emergency department experience.
Describe the characteristics, reasons for leaving and outcomes of patients who did not wait (DNW) to be seen by a health practitioner in a regional Australian ED. ⋯ Regional Australia ED patients who DNW often still require medical care, with approximately 1 in 20 requiring subsequent hospital admission. Patients with psychiatric conditions who DNW might be at particular risk.