Alan, Ada and Eva Selwyn Emergency Department

Cabrini Research Annual Report 2020-21 Alan, Ada and Eva Selwyn Emergency Department

DR IAN TURNER

GRANT FUNDING HELD $610k

PUBLICATIONS 23

The Cabrini Emergency Research Department is interested in novel and innovative approaches to improve the care we provide our community. Our focus for emergency medicine research is looking at novel strategies for emergency medicine care that can enhance the patient experience for those receiving treatment within our emergency department (ED).

Cabrini Research Annual Report 2020-21 Alan, Ada and Eva Selwyn Emergency Department

We are interested in collaborating with universities and other health services to implement improvements that can positively affect the experience, safety and efficiency of attending an ED. Our aim is to increase the research output of our department over the coming years. Our success in recent years in terms of publications demonstrates significant progress towards this goal.

We have made significant progress in multiple research projects. This includes ongoing research activity exploring the use of My Health Record in the ED as well as progress in the follow up phone call research projects and interactive screens in the ED waiting room research project. In the coming year we will be focusing on the Cabrini ED follow up phone call project. This project involves highly trained ED nurses routinely contacting patients after discharge home from Cabrini ED to track their progress and support the provision of ongoing clinical advice to our patients. This study is being conducted prospectively over a 12-month period to explore the patient experience following discharge from Cabrini ED and aims to allow for ongoing future improvements to the care that we provide our patients.

Right: Dr Dane Horsfall (left) and Dr Ian Turner.

Most patients who present to the ED receive treatment and are discharged home from the department, however, there is very little research regarding these heterogeneous populations and their post discharge needs. Cabrini ED provides discharged patients with a telephone follow-up call to check on their progress and offer advice on follow-up care. The goal of this study was to establish the value and efficacy of a telephone follow up service on meeting patients’ needs post discharge from the ED.

Semi-structured interviews of patients discharged from ED and nursing staff who conduct the phone calls identified four key themes: improved patient safety and experience, ability to give feedback, provide support and clarity, and provide convenience and reassurance.

Through a qualitative, inductive approach, this study was able to garner a rich understanding of the patients’ and nurses’ perspectives on the value and benefits of the telephone follow-up service post discharge from the ED. This study has been able to demonstrate that the telephone follow-up service offers value to patients as it was reported that, even though they were not that unwell, it gave them confidence and re-assurance that assistance is easily accessible when needed. The service provides an opportunity to clarify any medical questions or concerns, provide information on symptom management, patient safety, reassurance and a platform to give feedback.

STAFF

Dr Ian Turner, Director Emergency Medicine Dr Lisa Brichko, Emergency physician Associate Professor Keith Joe, Emergency physician Professor Katie Walker, Emergency physician Associate Professor Michael Ben-Meir, Emergency physician Dr Gabriel Blecher, Emergency physician Blessing Gazi, ANUM Emergency Department

PHD STUDENT

Alexandra Mullins (Monash University 2019-)