Demographic patterns of emergency presentations to Northern Territory public hospitals

Abstract

Andy H Lee is associate professor, School of Public Health, Curtin University of Technology; Lynn B Meuleners is research fellow, Injury Research Centre, University of Western Australia; Yuejen Zhao is an epidemiologist in the Northern Territory Department of Health and Community Services;Methinee Intrapanya is a registered nurse, Didier Palmer is director of the Emergency Department, Royal Darwin Hospital and Elizabeth Mowatt is director of Emergency Department, Alice Springs Hospital.This study investigates demographic patterns of emergency presentations to Northern Territory (NT) public hospitalsover the past five years with respect to population changes, Aboriginality and age of patients. Retrospective analysis was undertaken on the 1996-2001 data extracted from the NT Module of Caresys and the Hospital Morbidity Data System. There was a 4.6% decrease in total presentations to the five public hospitals but a 9.4% growth in the population during the study period. Substantial differences in emergency presentation patterns were found between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal patients. There were more Aboriginal presentations than non-Aboriginal presentations for all age groups except for 5 to 19 years and 70 to 74 years. Analysis based on the national triage scale showed the higher needs of older adults with the 60 or over age group accounting for the majority of presentations, and Aboriginal presentation rates exceeded the non-Aboriginal presentation rates in most triage categories. Re-attendance within seven days at the emergency departments occurred predominantly among Aboriginal patients regardless of age group. The analysis has highlighted several emerging demographic patterns. The issue of non-urgent visits by Aboriginal patients occupying a large portion of the emergency department utilisation also needs to be addressed.