• Rebecca A Davis, Michael M Dinh, Kendall J Bein, Anne-Sophie Veillard, and Timothy C Green.
• Emergency Department, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
• Emerg Med Australas. 2014 Aug 1;26(4):343-9.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the impact of a senior early assessment model of care on performance measures in a single ED.MethodsA pragmatic single-blinded randomised control trial with day of ED presentation randomised to one of three study arms: senior work-up assessment and treatment (SWAT) model of care intervention, non-SWAT control or control.Primary OutcomeThe primary outcomes were the proportion of patients meeting National Emergency Access Target (NEAT) criteria (ED length of stay less than 4 h) and ED length of stay. Secondary outcome measured was time to decision to admit in the subgroup of admitted patients.ResultsA total of 1737 patients were analysed. There was no overall difference in NEAT performance (48% [95% CI 44, 51] vs 41% ([95% CI 37, 45] vs 46% [95% CI 41, 50], P = 0.09) or ED length of stay (P = 0.65) between SWAT, non-SWAT and standard of care control groups, respectively. In the subgroup of patients discharged from ED (non-admitted), the SWAT intervention group was associated with higher NEAT performance (P = 0.004) compared with non-SWAT and control.ConclusionA senior early assessment model of care was not associated with improved overall NEAT performance and ED length of stay. However, there is evidence that improvements were made in the subgroup of discharged patients. There was no difference in overall NEAT performance among the three study groups.© 2014 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.

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