More than half of alcohol-related ED attendances are brought by ambulance
According to the findings, almost 6 per cent of alcohol-related presentations to ED were children
A new study has found that more than half, or 58.9 per cent, of drink-related emergency department (ED) presentations were brought by ambulance, reflecting the substantial burden of alcohol-related incidents on the casualty services.
The study also revealed that 5.7 per cent of these cases were children.
The research, presented at the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland (RCPI) Faculty of Public Health Medicine Winter Scientific Meeting by researchers at University Hospital Galway and the School of Medicine, NUI Galway, assessed alcohol-related presentations in 28 of the 30 24-hour EDs in Ireland.
A contact person in each of the EDs reviewed records of all patients who presented during the same four six-hour periods on four different dates (busy and quiet periods). Demographic information, method of admission, time spent in the ED and ICD-10 codes for alcohol admissions were all recorded.
The total number of presentations was 2,952 and of these, 175, or 5.9 per cent ,were alcohol-related, ranging from 101 (28.9%) on Saturday night/Sunday morning to 11 (1.3%) on Monday morning
Source: Irish Medical Times, January 24th 2018
