Mythbusting - Access Block
There has been significant debate on the pressures affecting emergency care. We have collated a variety of resources that dispel some of the myths that there are in emergency care setting.
Resource 1: Urgent and emergency care mythbusters, King's Fund, UK, 2017
An interesting suite of articles from the King's Fund in the UK. A different system but similar issues - of particular mention is the animation "An alternative guide to the urgent and emergency care system in England" which busts some myths about what is really going on in the system
Resource 2: MJA paper, 2013
Nagree, Y. et al. (2013). Quantifying the proportion of general practice and low-acuity patients in the emergency department. Medical Journal of Australia, 198(11), 612-5.
Resource 3: The Centre for Independent Studies, 2009
Why Public Hospitals are Overcrowded - Ten Points for Policymakers, Papers in Aging (8), by Jeremy Sammut.
Resource 4: MJA paper, 2009
Richardson, Drew B., and David Mountain. Myths versus facts in emergency department overcrowding and hospital access block. Medical Journal of Australia 190.7 (2009): 369
Resource 5: Australian Health Review paper, 2000
Ieraci S, Cunningham P, Talbot-Stern J, Walker S. Emergency medicine and "acute" general practice: comparing apples with oranges. Aust Health Rev. 2000;23(2):152-61. doi:10.1071/AH000152.
Position Statements
- ACEM - Statement on Access Block (2014)
- CENA - Position Statement Emergency Department Overcrowding and Access Block (2015, updated November 2018)