Indigenous issues in rural emergency departments

'“They just don’t like to wait”—A comparative study of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people who did not wait for treatment, or discharged themselves against medical advice from rural emergency departments' is a paper recently published in The Australasian Emergency Nurses Journal by NCAHS's own Leanne Wright. Leanne works across Port Macquarie Base Hospital and Kempsey District Hospital as a Nurse Practitioner in emergency services.

Leanne also presented her paper at the Emergency Nurses International Conference at the Gold Coast last month and won the best rural paper at the conference, awarded by the Australian Society for Emergency Medicine. Her research found that Aboriginal people were 1.5 times more likely to leave rural emergency departments prior to being seen by the medical officer, and 2.5 times more likely to “discharge against medical advice” than non-Aboriginal people. "The study replicated urban trends for rates of “did not wait” and “discharge against medical advice” for Aboriginal people, supporting indirect evidence of service dissatisfaction for this group. Rural communities often provide limited or no choice for alternative after-hours health care arrangements, leading to potential adverse outcomes for this vulnerable group."