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Equity for Indigenous Australians in intensive care
Author(s) -
Secombe Paul J,
Brown Alex,
Bailey Michael J,
Pilcher David
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
medical journal of australia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1326-5377
pISSN - 0025-729X
DOI - 10.5694/mja2.50339
Subject(s) - indigenous , medicine , intensive care , population , workforce , disadvantage , mortality rate , equity (law) , demography , intensive care medicine , sociology , political science , environmental health , ecology , law , biology
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians are more likely to be admitted to acute care hospitals than nonIndigenous Australians.1 While this is widely recognised, the overrepresentation of Indigenous patients in Australian intensive care units (ICUs) has been highlighted only recently.2,3 The headline finding that Indigenous Australians have an ICU admission rate that is 1.2 times the expected rate considering population representation is concerning, although not surprising, given higher Indigenous hospitalisation rates.1–3 It is reassuring that Indigenous patients appear to have similar inICU and inhospital mortality.2,3 Intensivists should be justifiably proud of this mortality equivalence, but deeper analysis conveys some inconvenient truths.