NSW Emergency Department Records for Epidemiology

The NSW Emergency Department Records for Epidemiology (EDRE) is a version of the NSW Emergency Department Data Collection (EDDC). It is optimised for epidemiological analyses and is accessed via SAPHaRI. It sources administrative data from information management systems used for managing patients in Emergency Departments (ED)

The EDDC commenced in 1994, but was organised into a formal data collection from July 1996. Only public hospital EDs participate in the EDDC. The number of participating EDs has increased over time from around 52 EDs in 1996-97 to all NSW (around 174) EDs from 2016-17. From 2014-15 to 2020-21 all ED presentations are included except in the regional Local Health Districts (LHD) of Western NSW (WNSW) and Far West (FW), which are missing a small proprtion in 2014-15 and 2015-16. In 2014-15 FW LHD had 78% of ED presentations included, increasing to 81% in 2015-16. In 2014-15 WNSW LHD had 68% of ED presentations included, increasing to 91% in 2015-16.

Analyses based on ED diagnoses are useful for monitoring trends, but accuracy can vary due to the variation in coding systems and  practices in each hospital. Unlike the admitted patient data collection, the EDDC does not have diagnoses formally coded by clinical coders. In EDs, the diagnoses are recorded by staff working in each emergency department. Depending on the information management systems used in the hospital at a point in time, the diagnosis is recorded according to one of three classification systems – the International Classification of Disease Revision 9 (ICD-9), Revision 10 (ICD-10) or the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine - Clinical Terminology (SNOMED-CT). ED diagnoses do not include intent or external cause codes.

Unplanned presentations include presentations that were not pre-arranged, with the majority classified as emergency presentations. Presentations may be reported by triage category and admission status.