Summer alcohol-related emergency department workload and occupancy in Australasia 2019-2022.
Emerg Med Australas
; 2024 May 14.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38745363
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Alcohol is a major public health issue and the ACEM funds regular 'snapshot' surveys of the prevalence of alcohol-related presentations in EDs. The present study uses these data to investigate ED occupancy and alcohol- and methamphetamine-related presentations at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.METHODS:
Survey-based point prevalence study of EDs in Australia and New Zealand conducted at 0200 hours local time on the Saturday of the weekend before Christmas in 2019-2022. Primary outcomes were ED occupancy, the number of alcohol-related presentations and methamphetamine-related presentations in each ED at the time of survey.RESULTS:
Seventy eight of a possible 152 hospitals answered all four surveys (51%, 95% confidence interval 43-59, individual yearly response rates ranged from 70.5% to 83.3%). The mean number of alcohol-related presentations in EDs at the snapshot time was 4.2 (95% confidence interval 3.2-5.2) in the 2019 survey and 3.8 (3.1-4.6) in 2022 with no significant variation over time. There was also no change in methamphetamine-related presentations which occurred at a lower level. There was a major increase in reported total ED occupancy - from 31.4 to 43.5 in Australia (P < 0.0001, paired t test) and from 22.8 to 38.7 in New Zealand (P = 0.0001). Subgroup analysis showed that both the number being treated and the number waiting to be seen increased, with little change in the number in observation units.CONCLUSIONS:
The present study demonstrates that the COVID-19 pandemic did not affect summer alcohol-related ED presentations in Australasia but was associated with an unsustainable increase in ED crowding.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Emerg Med Australas
Assunto da revista:
MEDICINA DE EMERGENCIA
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Austrália