Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39420735›Full record

ArticleEmergency medicine Australasia : EMA2025

Effectiveness of a Disability Liaison Officer service in a metropolitan emergency department.

Elizabeth O'Shannessy, Carly Talarico, Douglas McCaskie, Ali Lakhani, Christine Koolstra, Janine Standen, Karen Roberts, De Villiers Smit, Biswadev Mitra

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Elizabeth O'ShannessyAllied Health, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Carly TalaricoEmergency and Trauma Centre, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0009-0007-0248-0916
Douglas McCaskieAllied Health, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Ali LakhaniSchool of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-3209-7831
Christine KoolstraEmergency and Trauma Centre, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Janine StandenAllied Health, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Karen RobertsAllied Health, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
De Villiers SmitEmergency and Trauma Centre, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Biswadev MitraEmergency and Trauma Centre, The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-0508-2450

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo identify the influence of a Disability Liaison Officer (DLO) service in the ED setting on people with disability (PWD). For this project, PWD included adults with communication disability, intellectual disability or autism spectrum disorder.

methodsThis was a single-centre retrospective cohort study, at an adult major referral ED in Melbourne, Australia. Patients were eligible for inclusion if they were ≥18 years of age, presented to the ED between 1 April 2022 and 30 April 2023, and had a disability alert in their electronic medical record. Eligible patients were divided into two cohorts: (i) patients managed using standard ED care and (ii) patients managed using DLO model. ED length of stay (LOS) was the main outcome measure.

resultsAfter adjusting for baseline differences in age, initial GCS and disability type, the DLO service was associated with earlier disposition from the ED (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.23-1.69; P < 0.001). For the subgroup of patients discharged directly from the ED, the association of DLO service and earlier disposition remained statistically significant (aHR 2.47; 95% CI: 1.83-3.33; P < 0.001). Among patients admitted to the emergency short stay unit (aHR 1.67; 95% CI: 0.99-2.80; P = 0.06), and those admitted to inpatient wards (aHR 0.89; 95% CI: 0.65-1.23; P = 0.50), there was no significant association of the DLO service with time to disposition.

conclusionsThe DLO service was associated with a reduction in ED LOS for PWD. Further assessment of the service using patient- and carer-reported outcome measures and cost-effectiveness studies are indicated.

Indexed as

Emergency Service, HospitalPersons with DisabilitiesAdultAgedAustraliaCohort StudiesFemaleHumansLength of StayMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesVictoriadisabilityDisability Liaison Officerdischargeemergencyhealthcarelength of stay

Identifiers

PMID39420735
PMCPMC11744425

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.