Small rural emergency services still manage acutely unwell patients

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