Emergency examination authorities in Queensland, Australia
Clough, Alan R., Evans, Angela, Graham, Veronica, Catterall, Janet, Lakeman, Richard, Gilroy, John, Pratt, Gregory, Petrucci, Joe, Orda, Ulrich, Sehdev, Rajesh, Thornton, Neale, Das, Sourav, Yearsley, Gillian, and Stone, Richard (2023) Emergency examination authorities in Queensland, Australia. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 35 (5). pp. 731-738.
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Abstract
Objective: In Queensland, where a person experiences a major disturbance in their mental capacity, and is at risk of serious harm to self and others, an emergency examination authority (EEA) authorises Queensland Police Service (QPS) and Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) to detain and transport the person to an ED. In the ED, further detention for up to 12 h is authorised to allow the examination to be completed. Little published information describes these critical patient encounters.
Methods: Queensland's Public Health Act (2005), amended in 2017, mandates the use of the approved EEA form. Data were extracted from a convenience sample of 942 EEAs including: (i) patient age, sex, address; (ii) free text descriptions by QPS and QAS officers of the person's behaviour and any serious risk of harm requiring urgent care; (iii) time examination period commenced; and (iv) outcome upon examination.
Results: Of 942 EEA forms, 640 (68%) were retrieved at three ‘larger central’ hospitals and 302 (32%) at two ‘smaller regional’ hospitals in non-metropolitan Queensland. QPS initiated 342 (36%) and QAS 600 (64%) EEAs for 486 (52%) males, 453 (48%) females and two intersexes (<1%), aged from 9 to 85 years (median 29 years, 17% aged <18 years). EEAs commonly occurred on weekends (32%) and between 2300 and midnight (8%), characterised by ‘drug and/or alcohol issues’ (53%), ‘self-harm’ (40%), ‘patient aggression’ (25%) and multiple prior EEAs (23%). Although information was incomplete, most patients (78%, n = 419/534) required no inpatient admission.
Conclusions: EEAs furnish unique records for evaluating the impacts of Queensland's novel legislative reforms.
| Item ID: | 78487 |
|---|---|
| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1742-6723 |
| Keywords: | emergency medical service, involuntary hospitalisation, involuntary treatment, jurisprudence, mental health |
| Copyright Information: | © 2023 The Authors. Emergency Medicine Australasia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian College for Emergency Medicine. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Apr 2023 04:16 |
| FoR Codes: | 32 BIOMEDICAL AND CLINICAL SCIENCES > 3202 Clinical sciences > 320207 Emergency medicine @ 50% 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4202 Epidemiology > 420210 Social epidemiology @ 30% 42 HEALTH SCIENCES > 4206 Public health > 420602 Health equity @ 20% |
| SEO Codes: | 20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200409 Mental health @ 50% 20 HEALTH > 2004 Public health (excl. specific population health) > 200409 Mental health @ 50% |
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