AIHW logo
METEOR logo
Our sites
AIHW GEN Aged Care Data Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Health Performance Framework
Indigenous Mental Health and
Suicide Prevention Clearinghouse
Australian Mesothelioma Registry Housing data Regional Insights for Indigenous Communities
Contact FAQs
  • Find metadata
    • Find metadata
    • Getting started
    • Data set specifications
    • Indicator sets
    • Data quality statements
    • Data dictionary archives
  • Metadata management
    • Metadata management
    • Data standards
    • Registration authorities
    • Registration statuses
  • How to use METEOR
    • How to use METEOR
    • First steps
    • Using My Page
    • Downloading and printing
    • FAQs
    • About METEOR
  • Learn about metadata
    • Learn about metadata
    • Metadata explained
    • How to create metadata
    • Metadata development resources

Australian Health Performance Framework: PI 2.5.8–Waiting times for emergency department care: time spent in the emergency department, 2020

Identifying and definitional attributes

Metadata item type:Help on this termIndicator
Indicator type:Help on this termIndicator
Short name:Help on this termAHPF PI 2.5.8–Waiting times for emergency department: time spent in the emergency department, 2020
METEOR identifier:Help on this term728375
Registration status:Help on this term
  • Health, Standard 13/10/2021
Description:Help on this term

The median and 90th percentile length of emergency department stay, in minutes, in public hospital emergency departments.

Indicator set:Help on this termAustralian Health Performance Framework, 2020
Health, Standard 13/10/2021

Collection and usage attributes

Computation description:Help on this term

See Non-admitted patient emergency department service episode—triage category, code N for description of each triage category.

An emergency department stay is the period between when a patient presents at an emergency department, and when that person is recorded as having physically departed the emergency department (regardless of whether they were admitted to the hospital, were referred to another hospital, were discharged, or left at their own risk). It includes any time spent as an admitted patient in the emergency department, but not in ‘short-stay units’.

The scope for calculation of this indicator is all hospitals reporting to the

Non-admitted patient emergency department care (NAPEDC) national minimum data set (NMDS) 2019–20  or NAPEDC national best endeavours data set (NBEDS) 2019–20

Calculation includes all presentations with a physical departure date/time in the reporting period, including records where the presentation date/time is prior to the reporting period. Invalid records are excluded from the numerator and denominator. Invalid records are records for which:

  • Length of stay < 0
  • Presentation date or time is missing
  • Physical departure date or time is missing.

Calculation includes presentations with any Type of visit to emergency department.

Recording departure time

Emergency department (ED) stay length is the amount of time, measured in minutes, between when a patient presents at an emergency department, and when the patient physically departs the emergency department. It is calculated as per the guidelines included in the NAPEDC NMDS 2019–20 or NAPEDC NBEDS 2019–20:

  • If the patient is subsequently admitted to this hospital (either short stay unit, hospital-in-the-home or non-emergency department hospital ward), then record the time the patient leaves the emergency department to go to the admitted patient facility.
    • Patients admitted to any other ward or bed within the emergency department have not physically departed the emergency department until they leave the emergency department.
    • If the patient is admitted and subsequently dies before leaving the emergency department, then record the time the body was removed from the emergency department.
  • If the service episode is completed without the patient being admitted, then record the time the patient's emergency department non-admitted clinical care ended.
  • If the service episode is completed and the patient is referred to another hospital for admission, then record the time the patient leaves the emergency department.
  • If the patient did not wait, then record the time the patient leaves the emergency department or was first noticed as having left.
  • If the patient leaves at their own risk, then record the time the patient leaves the emergency department or was first noticed as having left.
  • If the patient died in the emergency department, then record the time the body was removed from the emergency department.
  • If the patient was dead on arrival, then record the time the body was removed from the emergency department.
  • If an emergency department physician certified the death of the patient outside the emergency department, then record the time the patient was certified dead.

Presentation time and date are the time and date of the first recorded contact with an emergency department staff member. The first recorded contact can be the commencement of the clerical registration or triage process, whichever happens first.

Analysis by state and territory is based on location of service.

Presented as number of minutes.

Computation:Help on this term

Number of minutes of emergency department stay at 50th and 90th percentile.

The 50th and 90th percentiles have been rounded to the nearest whole number of minutes.

The calculation is where:

n is the number of observations and

p is the percentile value divided by 100,

then n × p = i + f (where i is an integer and f is the fractional part of n × p).

If n × p is an integer, the percentile value will correspond to the average of the values for the ith and (i+1)th observations.

If n × p is not an integer, the percentile value will correspond to the value for the (i+1)th observation.

Numerator data elements:Help on this term
Data Element / Data Set

Emergency department stay—physical departure date, DDMMYYYY

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NMDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Data Element / Data Set

Emergency department stay—physical departure date, DDMMYYYY

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NBEDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Data Element / Data Set

Emergency department stay—physical departure time, hhmm

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NMDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Data Element / Data Set

Emergency department stay—physical departure time, hhmm

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NBEDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Data Element / Data Set

Emergency department stay—presentation time, hhmm

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NMDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Data Element / Data Set

Emergency department stay—presentation time, hhmm

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NBEDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Data Element / Data Set

Emergency department stay—presentation date, DDMMYYYY

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NMDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Data Element / Data Set

Emergency department stay—presentation date, DDMMYYYY

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NBEDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Disaggregation:Help on this term

2019–20—Nationally, by triage category.

Nationally, by triage category, by (not reported):

  • admission status.

2019–20—State and territory, by triage category.

State and Territory, by triage category, by (not reported):

  • admission status.

Local hospital network, by admission status (not reported).

Hospital, by admission status (not reported).

Some disaggregation may result in numbers too small for publication.

Disaggregation data elements:Help on this term
Data Element / Data Set

Establishment—organisation identifier (Australian), NNX[X]NNNNN

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NMDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data
Used for disaggregation by state/territory, peer group and Local Hospital Network.

Data Element / Data Set

Establishment—organisation identifier (Australian), NNX[X]NNNNN

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NBEDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data
Used for disaggregation by state/territory, peer group and Local Hospital Network.

Data Element / Data Set

Non-admitted patient emergency department service episode—triage category, code N

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NMDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Data Element / Data Set

Non-admitted patient emergency department service episode—triage category, code N

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NBEDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Data Element / Data Set

Non-admitted patient emergency department service episode—episode end status, code N

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NMDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Data Element / Data Set

Non-admitted patient emergency department service episode—episode end status, code N

Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

NMDS / DSS

Non-admitted patient emergency department care NBEDS 2019–20

Guide for use

Data source type: Administrative by-product data

Comments:Help on this term

Most recent data for 2020 Australian Health Performance Framework reporting: 2019–20.

Representational attributes

Representation class:Help on this termPercentile
Data type:Help on this termReal
Unit of measure:Help on this termTime (e.g. days, hours)
Format:Help on this term

[N]N:NN

 

Indicator conceptual framework

Framework and dimensions:Help on this term5. Accessibility

Data source attributes

Data sources:Help on this term
Data Source

National non-admitted patient emergency department care database

Frequency

Data custodian

 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Accountability attributes

Reporting requirements:Help on this term

Australian Health Performance Framework

Organisation responsible for providing data:Help on this term

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Source and reference attributes

Submitting organisation:Help on this term

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Relational attributes

Related metadata references:Help on this term
See also Australian Health Performance Framework: PI 2.5.5–Waiting times for emergency department care: proportion seen on time, 2020
  • Health, Standard 13/10/2021
See also Australian Health Performance Framework: PI 2.5.6–Waiting times for emergency department care: waiting times to commencement of clinical care, 2020
  • Health, Standard 13/10/2021
See also Australian Health Performance Framework: PI 2.5.7–Waiting times for emergency department care: percentage of patients whose length of emergency department stay is 4 hours or less, 2020
  • Health, Standard 13/10/2021
Supersedes Australian Health Performance Framework: PI 2.5.8–Waiting times for emergency department care: time spent in the emergency department, 2019
  • Health, Standard 09/04/2020
See also National Healthcare Agreement: PI 21a–Waiting times for emergency hospital care: proportion seen on time, 2020
  • Health, Standard 13/03/2020
See also National Healthcare Agreement: PI 21a–Waiting times for emergency hospital care: proportion seen on time, 2022
  • Health, Standard 24/09/2021
See also National Healthcare Agreement: PI 21b–Waiting times for emergency hospital care: proportion of patients whose length of emergency department stay is less than or equal to four hours, 2020
  • Health, Standard 13/03/2020
See also National Healthcare Agreement: PI 21b–Waiting times for emergency hospital care: proportion of patients whose length of emergency department stay is less than or equal to four hours, 2022
  • Health, Standard 24/09/2021
Help
Downloading

The download may take a while, please wait.

Do not refresh the screen until the download is complete.

<Title>

<body>
<footer>
  • View
  • Print view
  • Download
  • Word™
  • Pdf
  • Advanced Download
  • Review
  • Compare items
© Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Version 1.0.0+20220531.2