If your child bumps their head and a lump occurs, should you seek emergency treatment? 

What about a box jellyfish sting? Or when too many paracetamol tablets have been taken?

It's a tough call to make, and new research suggests you wouldn't be the only one who thinks so.  

A new Edith Cowan University (ECU) study, conducted by Dr Brennen Mills (PhD), shows Australians are self-assessing many potentially life-threatening situations as not worthy of a 000 call or trip to the Emergency Department (ED). 



The research involved data collection with more than 5,000 participants across Australia. They were asked how they would respond to a series of 17 medical scenarios, some of which warranted emergency treatment. 

According to Dr Mills' study, a number of common emergency medical situations were incorrectly identified as not warranting emergency treatment. These included:  

• A child suffering a scalp haematoma (lump) – 67% incorrectly thought an emergency response was not required. 
• Potential meningococcal infection– 57% 
• Box jellyfish sting – 40% 
• Paracetamol overdose – 37% 
• Mild chest pain – 26% 

Dr Mills said "while people should be wary of unnecessarily calling an ambulance or attending ED, particularly given ongoing ambulance ramping issues and over-burdened hospitals, it was still important to seek emergency assistance when necessary." 

The study found that in general men were more likely not to seek emergency treatment when they needed to, compared to women. 

Participants identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander were also 29 per cent more likely to suggest non-emergency responses to scenarios that were recommended for an emergency response. 

“A surprising finding was that parents of dependent children were no better at recognising emergency care is needed for head haematomas or potential meningococcal infection, compared to those without children,” Dr Mills said. 

"Funnily enough," he added, "the study showed that those living in rural and remote locations were 4% better able to identify emergency responses compared to those living in metropolitan locations, and those with a university qualification were 9% less able to correctly suggest an emergency response to emergency scenarios." 

While Dr Mills was unable to identify exactly why these anomalies showed up, he says that the most important role of his research was to identify gaps in the education system to help education providers "develop more targeted interventions." 

"It is important that we are teaching the hidden dangers of seemingly non-life threatening scenarios," said Dr Mills.  

"While it is true most children who present with a scalp haematoma will not have a clinically significant head injury, the presence of a scalp haematoma in seemingly minor head injuries has been found to increase the likelihood of intracranial injury."  

"Also, Paracetamol overdose is the most frequent cause of liver failure in the Western world and mild chest pain can be a sign of cardiovascular disease and associated acute complications which are the leading cause of death worldwide."  

"Fortunately the overwhelming majority of study participants (95%) correctly classified ‘severe chest pain’ as warranting an emergency medical response," said Dr Mills. 

Dr Mills explained that it's important to develop education and training initiatives to ensure that people are not afraid to attend an ED or call for an ambulance when the situation is warranted, particularly targeting those "who are less likely to engage with emergency healthcare services for whatever reason.” 

The paper ‘Ability of the Australian general public to identify common emergency medical situations: Results of an online survey of a nationally representative sample’ was published in the journal Australasian Emergency Care.