@article {Boyle725, author = {Justin Boyle and Julia Crilly and Gerben Keijzers and Marianne Wallis and James Lind and Ross Sparks and Louise Ryan}, title = {Impact of influenza across 27 public emergency departments in Australia: a 5-year descriptive study}, volume = {29}, number = {9}, pages = {725--731}, year = {2012}, doi = {10.1136/emermed-2011-200230}, publisher = {British Association for Accident and Emergency Medicine}, abstract = {Objective To describe the incidence, characteristics and outcomes of patients with influenza-like symptoms presenting to 27 public hospital emergency departments (EDs) in Queensland, Australia.Methods A descriptive retrospective study covering 5 years (2005{\textendash}9) of historical data from 27 hospital EDs was undertaken. State-wide hospital ED Information System data were analysed. Annual comparisons between influenza and non-influenza cases were made across the southern hemisphere influenza season (June{\textendash}September) each year.Results Influenza-related presentations increased significantly over the 5 years from 3.4\% in 2005 to 9.4\% in 2009, reflecting a 276\% relative increase. Differences over time regarding characteristics of patients with influenza-like symptoms, based on the influenza season, occurred for admission rate (decreased over time from 28\% in 2005 to 18\% in 2009), length of stay (decreased over time from a median of 210 min in 2005 to 164 min in 2009) and access block (increased over time from 33\% to 41\%). Also, every year there was a significantly (p\<0.001) higher percentage of access block in the influenza cohort than in the non-influenza cohort.Conclusions Although there was a large increase over time in influenza-related ED presentations, most patients were discharged home from the ED. Special consideration of health service delivery management (eg, establishing an {\textquoteleft}influenza clinic border protection and public rollout of vaccination, beginning with those most at risk{\textquoteright}) for this group of patients is warranted but requires evaluation. These results may inform planning for service delivery models during the influenza season.}, issn = {1472-0205}, URL = {https://emj.bmj.com/content/29/9/725}, eprint = {https://emj.bmj.com/content/29/9/725.full.pdf}, journal = {Emergency Medicine Journal} }