Of the 290 patients the average age was 65.3 years and gender
was evenly split across the groups (female n = 146: 50.3%). The three
most common symptoms on presentation were fever (n = 54: 18.6%),
abdominal pain (n = 34: 11.7%) and shortness of breath (n = 32: 11.0%)
(Table 2). Patients were also found to present due to abnormal test
findings (n = 29: 10%). The majority of patients (n = 231: 79.7%) presented
between Monday and Friday and between business hours
of 0800 and 1700 (n = 173: 59.7%). The majority were allocated Triage
Category 2 (n = 94: 32.4%) or Triage Category 3 (131: 45.2%). There
was no statistical difference in triage code allocation and time of
day (P = .282) or weekday presentation and gender (P = .931) when
comparing cancer patients with ED presentations.
The average time for nurse initiated interventions was 25 minutes
(SD ± 18.5). The most common nurse initiated intervention was pathology
and cannulation (n = 117: 40.3%) followed by the administration
of analgesics (n = 54: 18.6%) and or antiemetic (n = 8: 2.8%).