Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2015
Accuracy and interrater reliability of paediatric emergency department triage.
To determine the accuracy and reliability of triage of children in public hospital EDs using the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS). This is the first study to examine these issues in paediatric triage following the 2007 development of the Emergency Triage Education Kit (ETEK) to foster accurate and consistent application of the ATS. ⋯ Our findings demonstrate inconsistencies in the accuracy and reliability in which sick children presenting to EDs receive triage scores both within and across hospitals. These results suggest the need for improvements either in current triage nurse training or training resources. Use of the ETEK alone has not resulted in high levels of paediatric triage accuracy or reliability.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2015
Resident transfers from aged care facilities to emergency departments: Can they be avoided?
Residents from aged care facilities make up a considerable proportion of ED presentations. There is evidence that many residents transferred from aged care facilities to EDs could be managed by primary care services. The present study aimed to describe the characteristics of residents transferred from residential aged care facilities to EDs, and to evaluate the appropriateness and cost of these presentations. ⋯ Many resident transfers might have been avoided with better primary care services in place. Future strategies to improve resident care might include aged care staff skill mix and the availability of outreach or primary care services.