Wellington, May 14 NZPA - Alcohol is a factor in nearly one in four injuries presented at its emergency departments, a Hawke's Bay District Health Board study has found.
The injuries were tying up staff and disrupting other patients, the study said.
Hawke's Bay Regional Hospital's emergency department had assessed all injury presentations over eight months for the likelihood that alcohol had contributed.
Nurses in the emergency department used an intoxication assessment checklist similar to that of the police, asked about alcohol consumption and recorded details about the cause and location of the injury as well as the usual clinical injury details.
In December, 24.6 percent of injury presentations were likely or highly likely to have been contributed to by alcohol, Hawke's Bay District Health Board director of population health Dr Caroline McElnay today told the Alcohol Advisory Council's (Alac) Working Together conference.
The proportion varied with time and day of week, reaching 64 percent of all injury presentations between midnight and 6am.
In May, in 18.2 percent of injury presentations it was likely or highly likely that alcohol had contributed, reaching up to 67 percent of injuries presented between midnight and 6am.
Assaults accounted for a high proportion of the injuries, followed by falls and self-harm.
Dr McElnay said alcohol-related injuries impacted on the workload of hospital staff and disrupted other patients, and strategies for alcohol-related injuries needed to be implemented.
