Activities per year
Abstract
Background Early acute coronary syndrome (ACS) care occurs in the emergency department (ED). Death and disability from ACS are reduced with access to evidence-based ACS care. In this study, we aimed to explore if gender influenced access to ACS care. Methods A retrospective descriptive study was conducted for 288 (50% women, n = 144) randomly selected adults with ACS admitted via the ED to three tertiary public hospitals in Victoria, Australia from 1.1.2013 to 30.6.2015. Results Compared with men, women were older (79 vs 75.5 years; p = 0.009) less often allocated triage category 2 (58.3 vs 71.5%; p = 0.026) and waited longer for their first electrocardiograph (18.5 vs 15 min; p = 0.001). Fewer women were admitted to coronary care units (52.4 vs 65.3%; p = 0.023), but were more often admitted to general medicine units (39.6 vs 22.9%; p = 0.003) than men. The median length of stay was 4 days for both genders, but women were admitted for significantly more bed days than men (IQR 3–7 vs 2–5; p = 0.005). Conclusions There were a number of gender differences in ED care for ACS and women were at greater risk of variation from evidence-based guidelines. Further research is needed to understand why gender differences exist in ED ACS care.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 63-68 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 May 2017 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Acute coronary syndrome
- Emergency department
- Emergency nursing
- Evidence-based practice
- Myocardial infarction
Activities
- 1 Contribution to conference
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Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand Annual Scientific Meeting 2017
Lisa Kuhn (Organiser)
13 Aug 2017Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Contribution to conference
Press/Media
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The way women handle a heart attack can give them greater risk of dying
21/03/17
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Gender gap also applies to heart attack victims
21/03/17
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment