The introduction of the four-hour rule to reduce overcrowding in West Australian hospital emergency departments could save at least one life every two days, a study has found.
Research by the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA) estimates 267 lives were saved at three major Perth hospitals in 2010-11 due to the four-hour rule, which the federal government is now implementing in all public hospitals.
The policy was introduced in WA hospitals in 2009 and ruled that emergency departments must admit or discharge patients within four hours of their arrival.
MJA found there were 80 fewer deaths in the three major Perth hospitals in 2010-11.
However, if the figures were adjusted with the higher death rate in 2009-10 and the additional 17,000 patients in 2010-11, it could be argued 267 lives were saved that year, the researchers said.
The study also found that there was no reduction in adjusted mortality rates in three smaller hospitals where the improvement in overcrowding was minimal.
"Pressure on emergency departments in WA tertiary hospitals had increased dramatically over 10 years due to the increasing numbers presenting to the hospitals emergency departments, coupled with reduced available public bed numbers and fixed nurse-patient ratios on wards," the researchers said.
"The introduction of the four-hour rule encouraged hospitals as a whole to share the responsibility for, and help solve the problem of, overcrowding in emergency departments.
"This whole-of-hospital approach appears to have led to better communication between the emergency departments and the wards, with an increased appreciation of each other's problems and challenges."
The researchers said the target of 85 per cent of patients discharged within four hours was achieved by early 2011.
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