Estimating prevalence of drug and alcohol presentations to hospital emergency departments in NSW, Australia: impact of hospital consultation liaison services

Abstract

The impact of drug and alcohol misuse has been the subject of widespread media discussion in the past year, particularly in the context of restricted alcohol trading hours in an effort to reduce alcohol-fuelled violence. A recent study evaluating NSW Health's drug and alcohol consultation liaison (CL) services 1 demonstrates how pervasive drug and alcohol problems are, and the impact they have on the health system. This paper highlights how expanding CL services to fill current unmet need could deliver a range of benefits to patients and hospitals.

An examination of the profile and journey of patients with mental illness in the emergency department

“…overdose and drug induced psychosis) identified in the eMR dataset was compared to the manually collected data and found to be consistent (at 16.43%). The finding that there are high rates of comorbid MH and D&A presentations to ED is consistent with previous studies, which highlight a need for enhanced D&A services in EDs (32)(33)(34)(35)(36).…”

“…While anxiety and stress related conditions were the most common for most age groups, people aged 36-64 were most likely to present with a drug overdose and children under the age of 12 were more likely to present with behavioural and conduct issues. Neither of these observations are surprising; the former is in line with well recognised high prevalence of drug presentations to EDs (34), and the latter is consistent with the prevalence of conduct and behavioural issues in children. However, few studies have investigated ED presentation for children under the age of 12, and our findings contribute to this literature (18).…”

Psychostimulant-related health service demand in an inner-city hospital, 2012–2015

“…They prevent poorer outcomes in emergency admissions, reduce the average length of stay and re-presentation rates at EDs, and decrease overall admission rates over time. 14 Additionally, the high rates of single consultations for psychostimulant users per admission suggest a limited timeframe for intervention in which efficient engagement techniques are required. The increase in psychostimulant consultations may also indicate that referral teams have been able to screen and consider a drug health assessment as an important feature for the patient's recovery.…”

Investigating the management of alcohol‐related presentations in an Australian teaching hospital

“…An Australian study reported that 27% of ED patients used alcohol in the 24 h prior to presentation . Sadly this type of presentation is often unidentified . As alcohol withdrawal and its complications such as seizures may occur 6 h after the last drink , failure in identification of alcohol use disorder (AUD) can lead to unexpected acute alcohol withdrawal.…”