Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://ahro.austin.org.au/austinjspui/handle/1/26805
Title: Management of patients presenting with low back pain to a private hospital emergency department in Melbourne, Australia.
Austin Authors: Buchbinder, Rachelle;Bourne, Allison;Staples, Margaret;Lui, Chris;Walker, Katie;Ben-Meir, Michael ;Gorelik, Alexandra;Blecher, Gabriel
Affiliation: Department of Critical Care, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Monash-Cabrini Department of Musculoskeletal Health and Clinical Epidemiology, Cabrini Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Emergency Department, Cabrini Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Emergency Department, Monash Medical Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
School of Clinical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Emergency
Issue Date: Apr-2022
Date: 2021-06-23
Publication information: Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA 2022-04; 34(2): 157-163
Abstract: Recent studies suggest many patients with non-specific low back pain presenting to public hospital EDs receive low-value care. The primary aim was to describe management of patients presenting with low back pain to the ED of a private hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and received a final ED diagnosis of non-specific low back pain. We also determined predictors of hospital admission. Retrospective review of patients who presented with low back pain and received a final ED diagnosis of non-specific low back pain to Cabrini Malvern ED in 2015. Demographics, lumbar spinal imaging, pathology tests and medications were extracted from hospital records. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine independent predictors of hospital admission. Four hundred and fifty presentations were included (60% female); 238 (52.9%) were admitted to hospital. One hundred and seventy-seven (39.3%) patients received lumbar spine imaging. Two hundred and eighty (62.2%) patients had pathology tests and 391 (86.9%) received medications, which included opioids (n = 298, 66.2%), paracetamol (n = 219, 48.7%), NSAIDs (n = 161, 35.8%), benzodiazepines (n = 118, 26.2%) and pregabalin (n = 26, 5.8%). Predictors of hospital admission included older age (odds ratio [OR] 1.03, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02-1.05), arrival by ambulance (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.06-3.90) and receipt of pathology tests (OR 3.32, 95% CI 2.01-5.49) or computed tomography scans (OR 1.86, 95% CI 1.12-3.11). We observed high rates of imaging, pathology tests and hospital admissions compared with previous public hospital studies, while medication use was similar. Implementation of strategies to optimise evidence-based ED care is needed to reduce low-value care and improve patient outcomes.
URI: https://ahro.austin.org.au/austinjspui/handle/1/26805
DOI: 10.1111/1742-6723.13814
ORCID: 0000-0002-0597-0933
0000-0002-6454-8214
0000-0001-7514-7558
0000-0002-5313-5852
0000-0002-1770-3517
0000-0003-1032-0457
0000-0001-8537-2011
Journal: Emergency Medicine Australasia : EMA
PubMed URL: 34164911
Type: Journal Article
Subjects: emergency department
imaging
low back pain
opioid
quality of care
Appears in Collections:Journal articles

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