Table 3 Emergency department characteristics of children presenting to five hospitals in Australia and Sweden
ED A, SA [Children's] | ED B, QLD [Children's] | ED C, QLD [Mixed] | ED D, SA [Mixed] | ED E, Sweden [Mixed] | All hospitals [n=151647] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | |
Referral source | ||||||||||||
Self | 51809 | 86.7 | 31466 | 83.7 | 16493 | 88.0 | 17121 | 87.9 | 14241 | 88.4 | 131130 | 86.5 |
Primary health | 5732 | 9.6 | 3539 | 9.4 | 1781 | 9.5 | 1894 | 9.7 | 1405 | 8.7 | 14351 | 9.5 |
Transfer-in | 1866 | 3.1 | 1529 | 4.1 | 236 | 1.3 | 39 | 0.2 | 1 | 0.0 | 3671 | 2.4 |
Planned return | 50 | 0.1 | 869 | 2.3 | 51 | 0.3 | 100 | 0.5 | 453 | 2.8 | 1523 | 1.0 |
Community | 173 | 0.3 | 81 | 0.2 | 137 | 0.7 | 79 | 0.4 | 0 | 0.0 | 470 | 0.3 |
Missing | 107 | 0.2 | 92 | 0.2 | 40 | 0.2 | 253 | 1.3 | 6 | 0.0 | 498 | 0.3 |
Arrival mode | ||||||||||||
Private transport | 52930 | 88.6 | 31815 | 84.7 | 14453 | 77.1 | 17593 | 90.3 | 14907 | 92.6 | 131698 | 86.8 |
Ambulance | 6634 | 11.1 | 5699 | 15.2 | 4178 | 22.3 | 1671 | 8.6 | 1103 | 6.8 | 19285 | 12.7 |
Other | 171 | 0.3 | 63 | 0.2 | 110 | 0.6 | 65 | 0.3 | 96 | 0.6 | 505 | 0.3 |
Triage Category | ||||||||||||
Immediate | 86 | 0.1 | 252 | 0.7 | 134 | 0.7 | 128 | 0.7 | 419 | 2.6 | 1019 | 0.7 |
Within 10 min | 6224 | 10.4 | 4205 | 11.2 | 2522 | 13.5 | 1299 | 6.7 | 2898 | 18.0 | 17148 | 11.3 |
Within 30 min | 18812 | 31.5 | 12222 | 32.5 | 11897 | 63.5 | 8449 | 43.4 | NA | 51380 | 33.9 | |
Within 60 min | 31858 | 53.3 | 17377 | 46.2 | 3861 | 20.6 | 7121 | 36.5 | 7132 | 44.3 | 67349 | 44.4 |
Within 120 min | 2757 | 4.6 | 3521 | 9.4 | 327 | 1.7 | 2489 | 12.8 | 3548 | 22.0 | 12642 | 8.3 |
Within 240 min | NA | NA | NA | NA | 11 | 0.1 | 11 | 0.0 | ||||
Missing | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 2098 | 13.0 | 2098 | 1.4 |
Departure status | ||||||||||||
Home | 42110 | 70.5 | 28516 | 75.9 | 13118 | 70.0 | 14322 | 73.5 | 13129 | 81.5 | 111195 | 73.3 |
Admitted | 15583 | 26.1 | 8606 | 22.9 | 3147 | 16.8 | 2578 | 13.2 | 2969 | 18.4 | 32883 | 21.7 |
Did not wait | 1769 | 3.0 | 343 | 0.9 | 2303 | 12.3 | 1855 | 9.5 | 0 | 0.0 | 6270 | 4.1 |
Deceased | 3 | 0.0 | 4 | 0.0 | 7 | 0.0 | 1 | 0.0 | 3 | 0.0 | 18 | 0.0 |
Unknown | 272 | 0.5 | 107 | 0.3 | 166 | 0.9 | 730 | 3.7 | 5 | 0.0 | 1280 | 0.8 |
Day type of arrival | ||||||||||||
Weekday | 42460 | 71.1 | 26094 | 69.4 | 12912 | 68.9 | 13808 | 70.9 | 11369 | 70.6 | 106643 | 70.3 |
Weekend | 17277 | 28.9 | 11483 | 30.6 | 5829 | 31.1 | 5678 | 29.1 | 4737 | 29.4 | 45004 | 29.7 |
Time of arrival a | ||||||||||||
In-hours | 34472 | 57.7 | 22731 | 60.5 | 10552 | 56.3 | 10166 | 52.2 | 9247 | 57.4 | 87168 | 57.5 |
After-hours | 25265 | 42.3 | 14846 | 39.5 | 8189 | 43.7 | 9320 | 47.8 | 6859 | 42.6 | 66479 | 43.8 |
Season of arrival | ||||||||||||
Spring | 18771 | 31.4 | 11025 | 29.3 | 6105 | 32.6 | 6147 | 31.5 | 3618 | 22.5 | 45666 | 30.1 |
Summer | 10063 | 16.8 | 6176 | 16.4 | 3146 | 16.8 | 3216 | 16.5 | 4456 | 27.7 | 27057 | 17.8 |
Autumn | 19979 | 33.4 | 12746 | 33.9 | 5917 | 31.6 | 6462 | 33.2 | 3177 | 19.7 | 48413 | 31.9 |
Winter | 10924 | 18.3 | 7630 | 20.3 | 3573 | 19.1 | 3661 | 18.8 | 4855 | 30.1 | 30719 | 20.3 |
Major Diagnostic Category | ||||||||||||
Trauma | 14505 | 24.3 | 9074 | 24.2 | 5977 | 31.9 | 5235 | 28.3 | 3838 | 35.6 | 38629 | 25.5 |
Infectious | 8231 | 13.8 | 6510 | 17.3 | 1791 | 9.6 | 2715 | 14.7 | 1724 | 16.0 | 20971 | 13.8 |
Ear, nose, throat | 5291 | 8.9 | 4281 | 11.4 | 1459 | 7.8 | 1475 | 8.0 | 656 | 6.1 | 13162 | 8.7 |
Gastrointestinal | 6331 | 10.6 | 2208 | 5.9 | 953 | 5.1 | 1492 | 8.1 | 1652 | 15.3 | 12636 | 8.3 |
Respiratory | 5220 | 8.7 | 2923 | 7.8 | 1181 | 6.3 | 1757 | 9.5 | 558 | 5.2 | 11639 | 7.7 |
Miscellaneous | 2470 | 4.1 | 1910 | 5.1 | 2511 | 13.4 | 971 | 5.2 | 558 | 5.2 | 8420 | 5.6 |
Symptoms | 2341 | 3.9 | 1437 | 3.8 | 629 | 3.4 | 652 | 3.5 | 391 | 3.6 | 5450 | 3.6 |
Dermatology | 1693 | 2.8 | 1010 | 2.7 | 351 | 1.9 | 433 | 2.3 | 181 | 1.7 | 3668 | 2.4 |
Neurological | 1389 | 2.3 | 956 | 2.5 | 398 | 2.1 | 408 | 2.2 | 370 | 3.4 | 3521 | 2.3 |
Orthopaedic | 1272 | 2.1 | 606 | 1.6 | 328 | 1.8 | 394 | 2.1 | 202 | 1.9 | 2802 | 1.8 |
Psychiatric | 1672 | 2.8 | 287 | 0.8 | 333 | 1.8 | 224 | 1.2 | 64 | 0.6 | 2580 | 1.7 |
Obstetrics/ Gynaecology | 1144 | 1.9 | 84 | 0.2 | 164 | 0.9 | 457 | 2.5 | 29 | 0.3 | 1878 | 1.2 |
Renal | 769 | 1.3 | 515 | 1.4 | 248 | 1.3 | 220 | 1.2 | 53 | 0.5 | 1805 | 1.2 |
Environmental | 567 | 0.9 | 659 | 1.8 | 295 | 1.6 | 204 | 1.1 | 34 | 0.3 | 1759 | 1.2 |
Toxicology | 874 | 1.5 | 221 | 0.6 | 255 | 1.4 | 251 | 1.4 | 47 | 0.4 | 1648 | 1.1 |
Urology | 679 | 1.1 | 317 | 0.8 | 162 | 0.9 | 117 | 0.6 | 159 | 1.5 | 1434 | 0.9 |
Iatrogenic | 531 | 0.9 | 696 | 1.9 | 132 | 0.7 | 66 | 0.4 | 4 | 0.0 | 1429 | 0.9 |
Ophthalmology | 529 | 0.9 | 344 | 0.9 | 133 | 0.7 | 123 | 0.7 | 22 | 0.2 | 1151 | 0.8 |
Cardiovascular | 597 | 1.0 | 120 | 0.3 | 123 | 0.7 | 214 | 1.2 | 54 | 0.5 | 1108 | 0.7 |
Haematology | 271 | 0.5 | 433 | 1.2 | 62 | 0.3 | 22 | 0.1 | 0 | 0.0 | 788 | 0.5 |
Endocrine | 344 | 0.6 | 143 | 0.4 | 67 | 0.4 | 66 | 0.4 | 12 | 0.1 | 632 | 0.4 |
Metabolic | 192 | 0.3 | 114 | 0.3 | 64 | 0.3 | 38 | 0.2 | 10 | 0.1 | 418 | 0.3 |
Immunological | 65 | 0.1 | 13 | 0.0 | 7 | 0.0 | 8 | 0.0 | 42 | 0.4 | 135 | 0.1 |
Neoplasia | 45 | 0.1 | 31 | 0.1 | 4 | 0.0 | 7 | 0.0 | 24 | 0.2 | 111 | 0.1 |
Missing | 2715 | 4.5 | 2685 | 7.1 | 1114 | 5.9 | 1937 | 10.5 | 5422 | 50.3 | 13873 | 9.1 |