Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
-
Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2021
Observational StudyAfter-hours emergency department care: Does time or day of arrival affect survival?
To determine whether after-hours presentation to EDs is associated with differences in 7-day and 30-day mortality. The influence of patient case-mix and workforce staffing differences are also explored. ⋯ After-hours presentation on the weekend to an ED is associated with higher 7-day mortality even after controlling for case-mix.
-
Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2021
Is waiver of consent for the use of health information for research acceptable to emergency department patients?
Some emergency medicine research, especially retrospective studies using medical records review, rely on waiver of consent for use of personal health information (PHI) contained in clinical records. This is a secondary use of PHI and waiver of consent raises ethical, legal and practical issues. ⋯ In part, this involves a balancing of the public interest versus the risk to privacy and an evaluation of whether subjects would, mostly likely, have agreed to the use of their PHI had they been asked. To date, there are no robust data about whether use of PHI without consent for research would be acceptable to people who attend Australasian EDs for care.
-
Emerg Med Australas · Apr 2021
Multicenter StudyEpidemiology and clinical features of emergency department patients with suspected COVID-19: Insights from Australia's 'second wave' (COVED-4).
The aim of the present study was to describe the epidemiology and clinical features of patients presenting to the ED with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 during Australia's 'second wave'. ⋯ In this prospective multi-site study during Australia's 'second wave', a substantial proportion of ED presentations required SARS-CoV-2 testing and isolation. Presence of SARS-CoV-2 on nasopharyngeal swab was associated with an increase in the odds of death and mechanical ventilation in hospital.