Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2018
Observational StudyIncidence and outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A New Zealand perspective.
To describe the incidence and outcomes from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in the New Zealand population served by the St John Ambulance Service. ⋯ This is the first study to describe the epidemiology and outcomes of OHCA in New Zealand. Our findings provide important baseline data to monitor temporal trends, investigate the impact of changes in the management of OHCA and demonstrate that there are opportunities for improvement across the system of care.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2018
Evaluation of the trauma triage accuracy in a Level 1 Australian trauma centre.
To assess the rate of undertriage of major trauma patients and to assess factors contributing to undertriage in a modern Australian Level 1 trauma centre. ⋯ In this cohort of major trauma, a 6.1% undertriage performance of the triage tool was observed. Sub-analysis of the data showed that elderly patients were more likely to be undertriaged.
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Emerg Med Australas · Oct 2018
Wait times are not the problem! Detailed analysis of unsolicited patient complaints from a metropolitan Australian emergency department.
To describe characteristics of ED admissions that resulted in unsolicited complaints and compare with overall ED admissions. The site utilised is an inner city tertiary hospital, with 630 beds, with approximately 82 600 annual presentations, where 32.5% were children. ⋯ As seen in this study the vast majority of patient complaints were associated with treatment and communication issues and skewed towards doctors. It may be feasible for medical staff to undertake communication training as clinician-patient communication in the ED is an important aspect in the improvement of patient satisfaction and in decreasing patient complaints as waiting times and triage categories had no major influence on patient complaints.