title: Profiling nursing resources in Australian emergency departments.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Emergency nurses have a key role in managing the large numbers of patients that attend Australian emergency departments (EDs) annually, and require adequate educational preparation to deliver safe and quality patient care. This paper provides a detailed profile of nursing resources in Australian EDs, including ED locations, annual patient attendances, nurse staffing including level of education, and educational resources.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected via online surveys of emergency Nurse Unit Managers and Nurse Educators and the MyHospitals website. Data were analysed by hospital peer group and state or territory. Comparisons were made using the Kruskal-Wallis Test and Spearman Rank Order Correlation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 2011-2012, there were a median of 36,274 patient attendances to each of the 118 EDs sampled (IQR 28,279-46,288). Most of the nurses working in EDs were Registered Nurses (95.2%). Organisations provided educational resources including Clinical Nurse Educators (80.6%), learning packages (86%) and facilitation of postgraduate study (98%), but resources, both human and educational varied substantially between states and territories. One-third of emergency nurses held a relevant postgraduate qualification (30%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are important variations in the emergency nursing resources available between Australian states and territories. The high percentage of RNs in Australian EDs is a positive finding, however strategies to increase the percentage of nurses with relevant postgraduate qualifications are required.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing & Midwifery, Monash University, McMahons Road, Frankston, Victoria 3199, Australia; School of Nursing & Midwifery, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia. Electronic address: Julia.morphet@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morphet
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, Plymouth University, Australia.
authors.forename: Bridie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kent
authors.affiliation: Nursing Research, Monash University and Peninsula Health, Australia.
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Plummer
authors.affiliation: Deakin University, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Australia; Eastern Health - Deakin University Nursing, & Midwifery Research Centre, Australia; Deakin University, Centre for Quality and Patient Safety Research, Australia.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Considine
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D016529:Emergency Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006295:Health Resources / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D000078329:Workforce
keywords: Australia; Emergency nursing; Resources; Staffing