The aim of this survey is to seek valuable experience and feedback from ED staff about alcohol-related presentations at their emergency department.
Alcohol-related harm is one of the largest preventable public health issues facing Australasian EDs. ACEM, in partnership with the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia (CENA), are keen to understand the ED staff’s perspectives of alcohol-related presentations and the effect these have on the workforce and functioning of the ED. ACEM has received funding from the Australian Rechabite Foundation for this project.
The survey results will be used promote community discussion and to deliver a media advocacy campaign on the impact of alcohol-related harm on EDs across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
This is a voluntary survey, and your responses are anonymous, with no personal or hospital specific data will be collected.
The survey questions mirror the ACEM research undertaken in 2014 and so the findings will be compared to the 2014 survey findings to re-examine the scale of adverse impacts of alcohol on ED staff and patient safety and to identify changes over time. Key highlights of the 2014 clinical staff perception survey:
Location
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Findings
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Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand
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Over 2,000 clinicians were surveyed about their experiences of alcohol-affected patients in EDs. It was found that:
- 98% had experienced verbal aggression from alcohol-affected patients in the past 12 months
- 92% had experienced physical threats from alcohol-affected patients in the past 12 months
- 87% had felt unsafe due to the presence of an alcohol-affected patient while working in the ED
- 88% said the care of other patients was negatively or very negatively affected
- 94% said alcohol-affected patients in the ED had a negative or very negative effect on the workload of the ED staff.
These findings were published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
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Contact:
ACEM Research Team
61 (3) 9320 0444
[email protected]