Premium
Content analysis of Australian newspaper portrayals of emergency medicine
Author(s) -
Kennedy John F,
Trethewy Christopher,
Anderson Kevin
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
emergency medicine australasia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.602
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1742-6723
pISSN - 1742-6731
DOI - 10.1111/j.1742-6723.2006.00818.x
Subject(s) - newspaper , medicine , emergency department , specialty , content analysis , family medicine , media studies , nursing , social science , sociology
Objective: To evaluate portrayals of emergency medicine (EM) in Australian newspapers. Method: Systematic content analysis of articles about the ED in four major Australian newspapers. Results: From July 2003 to June 2004 176 articles about the ED were published. Articles about ED overload were dominant (37.9% of all subjects identified). Articles about solutions to ED problems (16%) and errors (12.7%) were also prominent. Emergency physicians (EP) provided 13.5% of all of the commentary in the articles. Health administrators, spokespersons and politicians collectively constituted 44.3% of voices. The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) provided little commentary (4%). Overall 18% of articles portrayed EM in a positive light, 37% neutral and 45% negative. The ratio of negative to positive articles was 2.5:1. page‐one stories were mostly concerned with ED overload and errors and were predominantly negative. Positive articles (18%) most commonly covered solutions to problems, ‘Life in the Emergency Department’ or descriptions of staff involvement with interesting diseases. Conclusions: There is a significant media focus on ED problems and errors. The majority of comment comes from politicians and bureaucrats not EP or the ACEM and, overall, the articles examined portrayed EM in a negative light. EP and the ACEM should evaluate ways to improve the interface between the specialty and the media.