Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2015
Predicting the number of emergency department presentations in Western Australia: A population-based time series analysis.
To predict the number of ED presentations in Western Australia (WA) in the next 5 years, stratified by place of treatment, age, triage and disposition. ⋯ ED demand in WA will exceed population growth. The highest growth will be in patients with complex care needs. An integrated system-wide strategy is urgently required to ensure access, quality and sustainability of the health system.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2015
Redesigning emergency patient flow with timely quality care at the Alfred.
The 4 h National Emergency Access Target was introduced in 2011. The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne implemented a hospital-wide clinical service framework, Timely Quality Care (TQC), to enhance patient experience and care quality by improving timeliness of interventions and investigations through the emergency episode and admission to discharge in 2012. We evaluated TQC's effect on achieving the National Emergency Access Target and associated safety and quality indicators. ⋯ TQC resulted in improvement in timeliness of care for emergency patients without compromising safety and quality. Success is attributed to effective engagement of stakeholders with a hospital-wide approach to redesigning the care pathway and establishing a new set of principles that underpin care from the time of ED arrival.