The impact of renal dialysis on hospital separations: The case of Pacific Island communities in the State of Queensland, Australia

DOI: 10.15580/GJMS.2015.2.012315014 The issue of hospital morbidity, and in particular hospital admissions, has been discussed over and over again in Australia and other jurisdictions. There has always been the perceived position that some conditions necessitate repeat visits to hospital and put undue pressure on the Queensland hospital system and its associated resources. This study investigates hospital morbidity among the Pacific Island communities in Queensland. The specific objective is to establish the contribution of renal dialysis to total hospital separations in general and avoidable hospital separations in particular. The study found that conditions such as diabetes complications contribute strongly to hospital separations of the Pacific Island communities, and that the marginal effect of renal dialysis was large. The standardised separation ratio (SSR) for all causes was more than halved when renal dialysis was excluded. The study concludes that renal dialysis contributes strongly to hospital morbidity and hospital separations of Pacific Island communities in Queensland, Australia. The study concludes further that the very strong contribution of renal dialysis to hospital separations can be reduced with improvements in the management of chronic disease. Submitted: 23/01/2015 Accepted: 10/04/2015 Published: 20/04/2015