Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Oct;33(5):932-934.
doi: 10.1111/1742-6723.13820. Epub 2021 Jun 29.

Contemporary evaluation of adverse outcome risks associated with 'did not wait' emergency department presentations

Mohamed Eftal Bin Mohamed Ebrahim  1   2 , Matthew Tang  1 , Matthew Vukasovic  1 , Andrew Coggins  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Contemporary evaluation of adverse outcome risks associated with 'did not wait' emergency department presentations

Mohamed Eftal Bin Mohamed Ebrahim et al. Emerg Med Australas. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: Did not wait (DNW) is a frequently cited ED key performance indicator. We conducted a network-based observational study of consecutive DNW presentations.

Methods: Prospective cohort study of Western Sydney Local Health District with a primary outcome measure of reported 30-day all-cause mortality and secondary outcomes of demographic characteristics and representation risk. For re-presenting patients who were subsequently admitted, a manual review of electronic records and incident report systems based on a priori plan assessed each case for the length of stay and adverse outcomes.

Results: During the study window, there were 1114 DNW presentations with 172 (15.4%) re-presentation within 72 h. The analysis of re-presented patients did not reveal adverse outcomes or prolonged length of stay. A review of available outcomes data revealed one DNW patient died within 30 days but had a previous palliative plan for terminal illness.

Conclusion: While a proportion of DNW patients re-presented within 72 h, an excess prevalence of poor outcomes were not observed.

Keywords: did not wait; emergency department; key performance indicator; patient safety; quality improvement.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Blake DF, Dissanayake DB, Hay RM, Brown LH. ‘Did not waits’: a regional Australian emergency department experience. Emerg. Med. Australas. 2014; 26: 145-52.
    1. O'Keeffe F, Cronin S, Gilligan P et al. Did not wait patient management strategy (DNW PMS) study. Emerg. Med. J. 2012; 29: 550-3.
    1. Melton N, Mitchell M, Crilly J, Cooke M. Patient characteristics and institutional factors associated with those who “did not wait” at a South East Queensland Emergency Department: who are those who “did not wait” in ED? Australas. Emerg. Nurs. J. 2014; 17: 11-8.
    1. Gilligan P, Joseph D, Winder S et al. DNW-“did not wait” or “demographic needing work”: a study of the profile of patients who did not wait to be seen in an Irish emergency department. Emerg. Med. J. 2009; 26: 780-2.
    1. Ebker-White AA, Bein KJ, Dinh MM. The Sydney Triage to Admission Risk Tool (START): a prospective validation study. Emerg. Med. Australas. 2018; 30: 511-6.

LinkOut - more resources