Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2015
Letter Case ReportsRed-back spider bite to the tympanic membrane with 21 day follow up.
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Understanding the reasons patients decide to attend a particular acute care service, and their expectations of that service, is important in providing optimal patient care. The present study aimed to determine factors influencing patient decisions to attend a private Australian ED, an issue that has not been previously addressed in the literature. ⋯ Patients chose to use the private ED because of prior experience, proximity, and an expectation they would be seen promptly and be provided with competent care.
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Emerg Med Australas · Feb 2015
Impact of formal teaching on medical documentation by interns in an emergency department in a Queensland teaching hospital.
This study's objective was to determine whether tuition in medical documentation enhanced the ability of emergency medicine interns to produce effective medical records. ⋯ The study demonstrated that documentation of clinical notes by interns can be enhanced by formal tuition.
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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
Age and admission times as predictive factors for failure of admissions to discharge-stream short-stay units.
Discharge-stream emergency short-stay units (ESSU) improve ED and hospital efficiency. Age of patients and time of hospital presentations have been shown to correlate with increasing complexity of care. We aim to determine whether an age and time cut-off could be derived to subsequently improve short-stay unit success rates. ⋯ Patients >70 years of age have higher rates of failure after admission to discharge-stream ESSU. Although in appropriately selected discharge-stream patients, no age group or time-band of presentation was associated with increased failure rate beyond the stipulated KPI.