Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas · Jun 2016
Emergency department 'undercrowding' is associated with decreased waiting times.
To evaluate the effect of a sudden and sustained decrease in patient presentations on waiting times and other measures of workload and flow following the opening of a large, greenfields ED adjacent to our own. ⋯ Patient presentation numbers are strongly associated with and likely impact on median waiting time. Understanding that controlling demand can lead to significant benefits in patient processing, flow and overall patient perceived level of care and satisfaction is relevant to any discussion on ED overcrowding and the deleterious effects of access block.
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Emerg Med Australas · Jun 2016
Pacific ethnic groups and frequent hospital presentation: A fair target?
In New Zealand, Pacific health figures are traditionally presented for all Pacific ethnic groups combined. Use of EDs and urgent care clinics is high compared with Maori and non-Maori, non-Pacific (nMnP) use. By controlling for proximity to the hospital and socioeconomic status, we demonstrate greater variation between Pacific ethnic groups than between Pacific and nMnP, or between Maori and nMnP groups. We discuss the significance of subpopulation variation in use of urgent care services.