For two decades, the demand for emergency department services in Australia has outpaced population growth and wait times have increased.  In 2022-2023 more than 8.8 million emergency department presentations occurred nationwide.

While demand is a contributing factor, EDs are currently being impacted by various factors across the entire health system.

The Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMF) is a non-profit organisation funding innovative Australian research that improves the way people are cared for in a medical emergency. The aim of the research is to deliver better and more effective health services to save lives and money.

Professor Hugh Grantham, Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMF) Chair on the urgent challenges  in emergency departments states, “The issue of system-wide delays from triage to admission to treatment and discharge is one of the Australian healthcare system’s most challenging problems and it severely impacts vulnerable patient groups, including aged care and mental health patients.”

In February 2024, the Emergency Medicine Foundation (EMF) launched a $1.3 million fund for new research grants dedicated to addressing the pressing issues in emergency care to improve patient outcomes in Australia.

These projects will include innovative ways to improve pain management in children, treating diabetic patients, and optimising treatment for patients who call an ambulance for nausea or vomiting.

Australian Health Journal spoke with Dr Kim Hansen, Emergency Medicine Foundation Board Director, author & presenter of a broad range of topics including ED crowding, incident reporting, cognitive bias and gender equity.

Since launching in 2007, EMF has fostered significant growth in research and innovation in emergency, prehospital and retrieval medicine across Queensland. These EMF-funded research projects have proved both effective and wide-reaching, with a recent mental health study projected to save the Australian health system $30 million.