Emergency medicine journal : EMJ
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EDs globally are under increasing pressure through rising demand. Frequent attenders are known to have complex health needs and use a disproportionate amount of resources. We hypothesised that heterogeneity of patients' reason for attendance would be associated with multimorbidity and increasing age, and predict future attendance. ⋯ Heterogeneity of presenting complaint can be quantified and analysed for ED use: it is increased where there is a history of mental disorder but not with age. This suggests it reflects more than the number of medical conditions.
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Globally, the measurement of quality is an important process that supports the provision of high-quality and safe healthcare services. The requirement for valid quality measurement to gauge improvements and monitor performance is echoed in the Australian prehospital care setting. The aim of this study was to use an evidence-informed expert consensus process to identify valid quality indicators (QIs) for Australian prehospital care provided by ambulance services. ⋯ This study demonstrates that with consideration of best available evidence a substantial proportion of QIs scoped and synthesised from the international literature are valid for use in the Australian prehospital care context.
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Observational Study
Non-urgent emergency department attendances in children: a retrospective observational analysis.
A significant proportion of ED attendances in children may be non-urgent attendances (NUAs), which could be better managed elsewhere. This study aimed to quantify NUAs and urgent attendances (UAs) in children to ED and determine which children present in this way and when. ⋯ A substantial proportion of ED attendances in children are NUAs. Our data suggest there are particular groups of children for whom targeted interventions would be most beneficial. Children under 5 years would be such a group, particularly in providing accessible, timely care outside of usual community care opening hours.