TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2021//
TI  - Emergency ambulance demand by older adults from rural and regional Victoria, Australia
JO  - Australasian journal on ageing
A1  - McManamny, Tegwyn E.
A1  - Dwyer, Rosamond
A1  - Cantwell, Kate
A1  - Boyd, Leanne
A1  - Sheen, Jade
A1  - Smith, Karen
A1  - Lowthian, Judy A.
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To describe the demographic profile and clinical case mix of older adults following calls for an emergency ambulance in rural Victoria, Australia. <br><br>METHODS: Retrospective cohort study using ambulance electronic patient care records from rural-dwelling older adults (≥65 years old) who requested emergency ambulance attendance during 2017. <br><br>RESULTS: A total of 84 785 older adults requested emergency ambulance attendance, representing a rate of 278 per 1000 population aged ≥65 years. More than 10% of calls were to residential aged care homes. Medical complaints and trauma accounted for 69% and 18% of attendances, respectively. The predominant cause of trauma was ground-level falls. Common reasons for call-outs were for pain (17.5%), respiratory problems (9.7%) and cardiovascular problems (8.5%). Increased demand was associated with increasing age and winter months. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Older adults from rural Victoria have high rates of emergency ambulance attendance and transportation to an emergency department, particularly with increasing age.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1440-6381
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ajag.12960
ID  - ref1
ER  -