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Pressure on emergency is usually attributed to an ageing population, a rising incidence of chronic disease with an onset age that is decreasing. Australia also has a residential age care sector that is not staffed to provide clinical care to elderly residents for minor injuries and conditions. These factors drive a year-on-year increase in ED patient volume.

But is the current ED crisis fully explained by rising patient volume? What other factors are at play to make this crisis more complex than the ED crises we have seen before? Are patients sicker by the time they present at ED, and if so why? Are we seeing a post COVID lockdown effect, or a cause that has been building for some time but has now reached a tipping point? The perfect storm, as Australia confronts a potential new wave of COVID infections.

This recording of the AMA Online National Conference Day 1 session shares front-line ED physician, Dr Sarah Whitelaw, anaesthetist, Dr Clare Skinner, and RACGP President, Dr Karen Price, first-hand perspectives on the cause of the current ED crisis and presents their views on the changes required to fix it.

Details

1. Develop a broad understanding of the issues facing doctors in the 2021 COVID-19 environment.
2. Name the pressures currently impacting public hospital EDs.