Emergency Department

Background

The Emergency Department is often the first place many people see when arriving at the Fairfield Health Service.

Please note we are not "Casualty" or "Accident and Emergency" (it takes time to change our signs) but the Emergency Department. This is in line with the growing recognition of the specialty fields of Emergency Medicine and Emergency Nursing.

Where are we found?

The Emergency Department is located at the front entrance of the hospital off Prairievale Rd.

We are located adjacent to radiology, security and the main switch board. Nearby are the wards, Operating theatres, the library and the kiosk. On the floor below lies pathology, administration, pharmacy and allied health services.

The Emergency Department operates with 6 acute beds, 3 subacute beds, 2 resuscitation bays, and 5 other specialty rooms.

How busy are we?

We operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The staff of the Emergency Department see approximately 25500 patients per year of which 25% or 6000 are admitted to hospital. For this reason, the Emergency Department is often known as the "front door of the hospital".

We see a real mix of ages, with approximately 26% less than 15 years of age.

What do we see?

People present to the Emergency Department with multiple different medical, surgical and paediatric conditions. Over the last 6 months our 8 most common diagnoses were:

• Abdominal pain
• Chest pain
• Asthma
• Gastroenteritis
• Angina
• Review post MVA
• Knee pain
• Urinary tract infection

How urgently do we need to see our patients (how sick are they)?

Patients are triaged so that the sicker patients receive treatment first. Triage categories are assigned to assist this process.

- on average the mix of triage categories encountered is shown below.

Who staffs the ED?

This process is possible through the workings of a cohesive team of nursing, medical, clerical and ancillary staff.

Currently over a 24 hour period there are:

• 5 Clerical staff
• 11 Nursing staff
• 8 Medical staff

Want more information?

If so please contact Joanna Bowen the NUM or Matthew Vukasovic or John Vassiliadis, Emergency Department Co Director on 9616 8139 or via Intranet.