Can J Emerg Med
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Socioeconomic status of emergency department users in Ontario, 2003 to 2009.
Emergency department (ED) overcrowding in Canada is an ongoing problem resulting in prolonged wait times, service declines, increased patient suffering, and adverse patient outcomes. We explored the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and ED use in Canada's universal health care system to improve our understanding of the nature of ED users to both improve health care to the most deprived populations and reduce ED patient input. ⋯ Social determinants of health clearly impact ED use patterns. People of the lowest SES use ED services disproportionately more than other socioeconomic groups. Focused health system planning and policy development directed at optimizing health services for the lowest SES populations are essential to changing ED use patterns and may be one method of decreasing ED overcrowding.
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Multicenter Study
Assessment of consultation impact on emergency department operations through novel metrics of responsiveness and decision-making efficiency.
Requests for specialty consultation are common in emergency departments (EDs) and often contribute to delays in throughput. Our objectives were to describe the contribution of the consultation process to total ED length of stay (LOS) through novel metrics and illustrate causes of delay. ⋯ The consultation process is highly variable and has an important impact on ED LOS. We describe novel measures related to consultation performance and provide an analysis of what causes delays. These results can be used to seek improvements in the consulting process.
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Multicenter Study
An inventory of Canadian trauma systems: opportunities for improving access to trauma care.
Despite evidence that patients suffering major traumatic injuries have improved outcomes when cared for within an organized system, the extent of trauma system development in Canada is limited. We sought to compile a detailed inventory of trauma systems in Canada as a first step toward identifying opportunities for improving access to trauma care. ⋯ There is significant variability in the extent of trauma system development in Canada. Although all provinces have designated trauma centres, opportunities exist in many systems to implement additional components to improve the inclusiveness of care. In future work, we intend to quantify the strength of the relationship between different trauma system components and access to definitive trauma care.