ArticleBMJ open2026
Evaluating the impact of an Australian Virtual Care service on low-acuity presentations to district emergency departments: an interrupted time series analysis.
Article in BMJ open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the impact of an Australian Virtual Care service on low-acuity patient presentations to emergency departments (EDs) across a local health district.
designThis was a retrospective study using an interrupted time series analysis to compare outcomes before and after the introduction of Mid North Coast Virtual Care (MNCVC). The comparison of these periods aims to identify changes in the rate of semi-urgent (category 4) and non-urgent (category 5) ED presentations following the intervention.
settingThis analysis covers the Mid North Coast Local Health District, a coastal region in New South Wales, Australia. It encompasses EDs in Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Kempsey, Macksville, Dorrigo and Bellingen.
main outcome measureWhether there was a reduction in low-acuity ED presentations (category 4 and 5) as a proportion of total ED presentations at Mid North Coast EDs following the commencement of MNCVC as an alternative to ED attendance.
resultsIn the years prior to intervention, the proportion of total ED presentations that were low-acuity presentations averaged 54.58%. Following intervention from July 2022 onwards, there was an immediate non-significant 1.04% decrease in the proportion of category 4 and 5 presentations (95% CI -2.11 to 0.04, p=0.063), with a further significant 0.12% decrease each month thereafter (95% CI -0.17 to -0.06, p<0.001). By December 2024, the model estimated a cumulative 4.64% decrease in the proportion of low-acuity presentations since the introduction of the virtual care service.
conclusionsFollowing commencement of a virtual care service, a significant and sustained reduction in the proportion of low-acuity presentations was observed across the district EDs. Virtual care services may contribute to easing the burden of low-acuity presentations on EDs.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.