Cl. Johnston et al., Medical emergencies in general practice in south-east Queensland: prevalence and practice preparedness, MED J AUST, 175(2), 2001, pp. 99-103
Citations number
25
Categorie Soggetti
General & Internal Medicine","Medical Research General Topics
Objective: To determine the type and frequency of emergencies in general pr
actice, and the extent to which general practices are equipped to appropria
tely respond to emergencies:
Design: Random-sample, cross-sectional questionnaire survey of general prac
titioners, October 1999 - March 2000.
Setting: General practices in south-east Queensland.
Participants: 512 of 900 eligible GPs in current clinical practice.
Main outcome measures: The type and frequency of medical emergencies presen
ting to GPs, and descriptive details of emergency drugs and equipment avail
able in their practices.
Results: 512 GPs (response rate, 57%) reported managing a cumulative total
of 5640 emergencies over the preceding 12 months. Non-metropolitan GPs saw
about 30% more emergencies than their metropolitan counterparts (median, 9
and 7, respectively; P=0.02). The most common emergencies (seen by more tha
n 30% of all GPs) were acute asthma, psychiatric emergencies, convulsions,
hypoglycaemia, anaphylaxis, impaired consciousness, shock, poisoning and ov
erdose. Most GPs (77%) stocked 15 or more of the 16 emergency doctor's bag
drugs, but a smaller proportion (67%) had all of the basic emergency equipm
ent items considered essential.
Conclusions: A substantial number of patients with potentially life-threate
ning emergencies present to GPs. Doctor's bag emergency drugs are available
in most general practices, but availability of basic emergency equipment i
s suboptimal.