Australian small rural emergency services need to be prepared to manage diverse problems and urgent patients.

Dr Tim Baker and Samantha Dawson conducted a study that collected 12-months worth of episode-level data from 6 small rural emergency departments in Victoria’s south-west.

They found that a wide range of problems presented and that most of the common procedures were performed. Most importantly, almost 6% of 14318 emergency patients were in the two most urgent triage categories.

Read more: Access article on publisher’s site

Baker T, and Dawson SL. Small rural emergency services still manage acutely unwell patients: A cross-sectional study [Internet]. Emergency Medicine Australasia. 2014;26(2):131-138.Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.12229