Urgent care for injuries: Consumer perspective from Rockingham community conversation – June 2024

Urgent care for injuries: Consumer perspective from Rockingham community conversation – June 2024

Description

Many people seeking urgent care have injuries (a new condition involving pain, sprain, strain or fracture of nerve, muscle, tendon, joint or bones). They make up 8-9% of the people going to the Rockingham General Hospital emergency department. In 2022, a new model of care started at the hospital diverting patients with injuries from the emergency department to physiotherapy outpatients. What happened: A community conversation was held in June 2024 in Rockingham to explore the issues associated with seeking urgent and follow up care with an injury. Consumers attended and their perspectives were workshopped with researchers from the University of Notre Dame Australia and the consumer engagement team from the WA Health Translation Network. What mattered to consumers:

The key themes for consumers seeking urgent care with an injury in Rockingham are;

1) Access to care: Out of office hours access to clinical and imaging services is a problem. Long waits in the emergency department are frustrating. Access to care needs to be consistent and high quality. Diverting patients from the emergency department was viewed positively.

2) Communication: Clear communication from clinical staff is important. Urgent and follow up care services must share information and follow common processes. People expect reliable communication within and between Hospital and community services.

3) Patient expectations: Acknowledging a person’s expectations of care and addressing their specific concerns was highly valued.

4) Pathways of care: Consumers want easy flexible access to both urgent and follow up care. Urgent care should connect to a pathway of services to support recovery.

5) Cost: Consumers do not expect to pay for urgent or follow up care. For some, this is a critical issue as they cannot afford to pay.

6) Vulnerable people: Care seeking can be difficult for vulnerable people, who do not always feel listened to in health care encounters.

7) Diverting patients from the emergency department: this model of care was strongly endorsed by consumers.

Strongly endorsed consumer recommendations:

1) Expand the diversion pathway to a community setting away from the hospital.

2) Advertise the diversion pathway in the emergency department and in the community to allow consumers to make best use of this service.

3) Combine all the hospital clinics into a ‘one-stop-shop’ for injuries. Have a clinic that provides urgent and follow up care and includes physiotherapists, orthopaedic doctors and nurse practitioners.

4) Provide direct access the diversion pathway without having to go to the emergency department.

Publication Date

2024

Publisher

South Metropolitan Health Service

City

Rockingham

Keywords

Urgent care, emergency department, primary care, injury, musculoskeletal

Partners

1. South Metropolitan Health Service, Kaartdijin Innovation Centre, Murdoch, WA.

2. Rockingham General Hospital, Department of Physiotherapy, Coolongup, WA

3. Fiona Stanley Hospital, Department of Physiotherapy, Murdoch, WA

4. University of Notre Dame Australia, National School of Health Sciences, Fremantle, WA

5. Fiona Stanley Hospital, Emergency Department Consumer Advisory Group, Murdoch, WA

6. Rockingham General Hospital, Consumer Advisory Committee, Coolongup, WA

7. University of Notre Dame Australia, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Fremantle, WA

8. Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, Nedlands, WA

9. Centre for Pain IMPACT, Neuroscience Research Australia, Randwick, NSW

10. University of Notre Dame Australia, Institute of Health Research, Fremantle, WA

11. South Metropolitan Health Service, Allied Health Research Unit, Murdoch, WA

12. Curtin University, School of Allied Health, Bentley, WA

Urgent care for injuries: Consumer perspective from Rockingham community conversation – June 2024

Share

COinS