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Patterns of ‘at‐home’ alcohol‐related injury presentations to emergency departments
Author(s) -
Bunker Naomi,
Woods Cindy,
Conway Jane,
Barker Ruth,
Usher Kim
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1111/jocn.13472
Subject(s) - medicine , observational study , spouse , emergency department , injury prevention , occupational safety and health , public health , suicide prevention , poison control , harm , human factors and ergonomics , medical emergency , family medicine , nursing , psychology , social psychology , pathology , sociology , anthropology
Aims and objectives This study aimed to establish the scale of alcohol‐related injuries originating in the home. Background Despite recent media and public attention on alcohol‐related injuries occurring at licensed venues, many occur in other locations including the home. Design A retrospective observational study. Methods Emergency department surveillance data sourced from the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit were interrogated for alcohol‐related emergency department presentations from 2003–2012 (n = 12,296). Descriptive analysis was undertaken to assess alcohol involvement in injury, and analysis of variance was used to determine the differences among group means and their associated presentations. The relationship between demographic variables and injury location was assessed using p value of <0·05 as statistically significant. Results Of all injuries that were positively identified as being alcohol related, 41·07% occurred at the ‘other’ location, 36·14% ‘at home’, 13·00% on the street and 9·78% at licensed premises. Of these, males ( n = 2635; 59%) represented a higher proportion than females ( n = 1807; 41%). Of injuries identified as domestic violence by spouse or partner ( n = 510), 59·5% occurred ‘at home’. Conclusions This is the first study to investigate alcohol‐related injuries occurring at home. The home accounts for a greater proportion of injuries than the frequently assessed licensed premises location. Further research is required to validate these findings in a wider setting. Relevance to clinical practice A public health campaign is required to minimise harm associated with alcohol‐related injuries in the home, and nurses are positioned to inform health policy makers around this issue. Furthermore, emergency department nurses are in a unique position to provide brief interventions around safe alcohol consumption and injury prevention.