Emergency department staff opinion on newly introduced phlebotomy services in the department. A cross-sectional study incorporating thematic analysis.

Objectives: The demand for ED services, both in terms of patient numbers and complexity has risen over the past decades. According to reports, there has been an increase in the ED patient presentation rate from 330 per 1000 to 334 per 1000 between 2018-2019 and 2022-2023. Consequently, new care models have been introduced to address this surge in demand, mitigate associated risks and improve overall safety.

The effect of My Health Record use in the emergency department on clinician-assessed patient care: results from a survey.

Background: The emergency department has been a major focus for the implementation of Australia's national electronic health record, known as My Health Record. However, the association between use of My Health Record in the emergency department setting and patient care is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to explore the perspectives of emergency department clinicians regarding My Health Record use frequency, the benefits of My Health Record use (with a focus on patient care) and the barriers to use.

Trends in presentations to a private emergency department during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

Objective The COVID-19 pandemic in Australia coincided with an early trend of reduced visits to the emergency department (ED), but to determine which patients presented less requires closer evaluation. Identifying which patient groups are presenting less frequently will provide a better understanding of health care utilisation behaviours during a pandemic and inform healthcare providers of the potential challenges in managing these groups. Methods This single-centre retrospective study examined trends in presentations in 2020 to a private, mixed paediatric and adult ED in an inner city suburb within the state of Victoria that treats both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients.

Use of My Health Record by Clinicians in the Emergency Department: An Analysis of Log Data.

Leverage log data to explore access to My Health Record (MHR), the national electronic health record of Australia, by clinicians in the emergency department. A retrospective analysis was conducted using secondary routinely-collected data. Log data pertaining to all patients who presented to the emergency department between 2019 and 2021 of a not-for-profit hospital (that annually observes 23,000 emergency department presentations) were included in this research.

Emergency medicine patient wait time multivariable prediction models: a multicentre derivation and validation study.

Objective: Patients, families and community members would like emergency department wait time visibility. This would improve patient journeys through emergency medicine. The study objective was to derive, internally and externally validate machine learning models to predict emergency patient wait times that are applicable to a wide variety of emergency departments.

Management of patients presenting with low back pain to a private hospital emergency department in Melbourne, Australia.

Objective: Recent studies suggest many patients with non-specific low back pain presenting to public hospital EDs receive low-value care. The primary aim was to describe management of patients presenting with low back pain to the ED of a private hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and received a final ED diagnosis of non-specific low back pain. We also determined predictors of hospital admission.

Predicting Ambulance Patient Wait Times: A Multicenter Derivation and Validation Study.

Study Objective: To derive and internally and externally validate machine-learning models to predict emergency ambulance patient door-to-off-stretcher wait times that are applicable to a wide variety of emergency departments.

Methods: Nine emergency departments provided 3 years (2017 to 2019) of retrospective administrative data from Australia. Descriptive and exploratory analyses were undertaken on the datasets.

Physicians' and pharmacists' use of My Health Record in the emergency department: results from a mixed-methods study.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore pharmacists' and physicians' perceptions of use, barriers to use and the healthcare outcomes associated with use of Australia's national personally controlled electronic health record-known as My Health Record-in the emergency department.

Methods: A mixed methods approach was deployed, including surveys and individual semi-structured interviews. All physicians and pharmacists who work in the emergency department at Cabrini Health (a non-for-profit healthcare provider in Victoria, Australia) were invited to participate.

Health Outcomes and Healthcare Efficiencies Associated with the Use of Electronic Health Records in Hospital Emergency Departments: a Systematic Review.

Healthcare organisations and governments have invested heavily in electronic health records in anticipation that they will deliver improved health outcomes for consumers and efficiencies across emergency departments. Despite such investment, electronic health records designed to support emergency care have been poorly evaluated. Given the accelerated development and adoption of information technology across healthcare, it is timely that a systematic review of this evidence base is updated in order to drive improvements to design, interoperability and overall clinical utility of electronic health record systems implemented in emergency departments.

Displaying emergency patient estimated wait times: A multi-centre, qualitative study of patient, community, paramedic and health administrator perspectives.

Objective: EDs have the potential ability to predict patient wait times and to display this to patients and other stakeholders. Little is known about whether consumers and stakeholders would want this information and how wait time predictions might be used. The aim of the present study was to gain perspectives from consumers and health services personnel regarding the concept of emergency wait time visibility.

Australian private emergency departments can assist ambulance services by taking public emergency patients during surge and disasters.

We describe a novel ambulance diversion programme, piloted in Victoria. This article discusses creating increased emergency capacity during surge or disasters by utilising private EDs, tested during a recent thunderstorm asthma disaster and an influenza epidemic. Public hospitals and EDs often run at or over capacity during normal operations.

Impact of scribes on emergency medicine doctors' productivity and patient throughput: multicentre randomised trial.

Objectives: To evaluate the changes in productivity when scribes were used by emergency physicians in emergency departments in Australia and assess the effect of scribes on throughput.

Design: Randomised, multicentre clinical trial.

Setting: Five emergency departments in Victoria used Australian trained scribes during their respective trial periods.

Assessing the discharge instructing in the emergency department: Patient perspective.

Objective: The objective of the study is to assess how well the emergency department (ED) personnel succeed in instructing the patient at discharge.

Methods: In November and December 2016 at Peijas Hospital ED, Finland, a structured questionnaire was conducted during a phone interview on patients the day after discharge.

Results: A total of 132 patients interviewed.

Choosing public or private emergency departments in Australia.

Emergency medicine was once exclusively provided in public hospitals in Australia, but now over half a million consultations per annum are in private (7% total emergency consultations). Private EDs have excess capacity and are staffed by senior doctors (majority FACEM) with open access to investigations and broad specialist inpatient services. Public EDs struggle with rising attendances and overcapacity.

Emergency consultants value medical scribes and most prefer to work with them, a few would rather not: a qualitative Australian study.

Objective: The utilisation of medical scribes in the USA has enabled productivity gains for emergency consultants, though their personal experiences have not been widely documented. We aimed to evaluate the consultant experience of working with scribes in an Australian ED.

Methods: Emergency consultants working with scribes and those who declined to work with scribes were invited to participate in individual interviews (structured and semistructured questions) about scribes, scribe work and the scribe program in October 2016.

The 9-Item Physician Documentation Quality Instrument (PDQI-9) score is not useful in evaluating EMR (scribe) note quality in Emergency Medicine.

Background: Scribes are assisting Emergency Physicians by writing their electronic clinical notes at the bedside during consultations. They increase physician productivity and improve their working conditions. The quality of Emergency scribe notes is unevaluated and important to determine.

Acupuncture for analgesia in the emergency department: a multicentre, randomised, equivalence and non-inferiority trial.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess analgesia provided by acupuncture, alone or in combination with pharmacotherapy, to patients presenting to emergency departments with acute low back pain, migraine or ankle sprain.

Design: A pragmatic, multicentre, randomised, assessor-blinded, equivalence and non-inferiority trial of analgesia, comparing acupuncture alone, acupuncture plus pharmacotherapy, and pharmacotherapy alone for alleviating pain in the emergency department. Setting, participants: Patients presenting to emergency departments in one of four tertiary hospitals in Melbourne with acute low back pain, migraine, or ankle sprain, and with a pain score on a 10-point verbal numerical rating scale (VNRS) of at least 4.

Medical scribes have no impact on the patient experience of an emergency department.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate patient perceptions of medical scribes in the ED and to test for scribe impacts on ED Net Promoter Scores, Press Ganey Surveys and other patient-centred topics.

Methods: Exploratory semi-structured interviews were conducted in the ED during wait times after scribed consultations. Interview results were used to derive topics relating to scribes.

Feasibility evaluation of a pilot scribe-training program in an Australian emergency department.

Objective Medical scribes have an emerging and expanding role in health, particularly in Emergency Medicine in the US. Scribes assist physicians with documentation and clerical tasks at the bedside while the physician consults with his or her patient. Scribes increase medical productivity.

An economic evaluation of the costs of training a medical scribe to work in Emergency Medicine.

Objective: To undertake a cost analysis of training medical scribes in an ED.

Methods: This was a pilot, observational, single-centre study at Cabrini ED, Melbourne, Australia, studying the costs of initiating a scribe programme from the perspective of the hospital and Australian Health sector. Recruitment and training occurred between August 2015 and February 2016 and comprised of a prework course (1 month), prework training sessions and clinical training shifts for scribe trainees (2-4 months, one shift per week) who were trained by emergency physicians.

Medical scribes in emergency medicine produce financially significant productivity gains for some, but not all emergency physicians.

Objective: The present study aims to determine if a scribe in an Australian ED can assist emergency physicians to work with increased productivity and to investigate when and where to allocate a scribe and to whom.

Methods: This was a prospective observational single-centre study conducted at a private ED in Melbourne. It evaluated one American scribe and five doctors over 6 months.