Fifty-six hospitals, five countries, 3000 patients!
That's what the recently launched Asia, Australia and New Zealand dyspnoea in the emergency department (AANZDEM) study led by the Joseph Epstein Centre Emergency Medicine Research, based at Sunshine Hospital, will involve.
“AANZDEM is an innovative project,” Director of the Joseph Epstein Centre Emergency Medicine Research, Professor Anne-Maree Kelly said.
“It is looking at conditions from a patient point of view -the symptom of shortness of breath - rather than a disease focus.
“We will collect data on patient characteristics, investigations, treatment, diagnoses and in-hospital outcome form hospitals across Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.
By collecting data in three, 3-day windows in Autumn, Winter and Spring we hope to better understand the distribution of diagnoses, seasonal, geographic and climatic variation and compliance with best practice guidelines.
“The aim is to inform quality improvement activities and better service planning, particularly for patients with mixed cardiac and respiratory disease who are often left out a disease-focused research.”
