Reducing avoidable COPD emergency room presentations

The purpose of this study is to improve clinical management for COPD patients within Queensland, by investigating factors that contribute to emergency department presentations among COPD patients. The data collected (in phase 1) will inform a health economic analysis and identify known and unknown causal factors associated with avoidable COPD emergency department presentations derived from qualitative interviews. The project is grant funded by Emergency Medicine Foundation Staff Specialist Grant. The research significance of this project will inform the implementation and evaluation of referral treatment initiatives (e.g., anxiety management, smoking cessation referral, and quality intra-professional care [IPC] programs), based on identified causal factors. There will be multiple manuscripts for publication derived from the data collected/stored from the first phase of the project. It is anticipated 2-4 publications relating to the health economic analysis, another 4 publications stemming from the qualitative data. In addition to publications there will be industry reports and community/stakeholder forums to disseminate findings. Later phases will likely involve at least one PhD scholarship.