Australian Emergency Department Doctors and Nurses' Perspectives on the Duration of Persistent Tachycardia in Children
ABSTRACT Objective To explore time thresholds for ‘persistent tachycardia’ in children among Australian emergency department clinicians. Methods Online cross‐sectional survey of emergency department clinicians. Respondents were asked to indicate the duration in hours they considered that a tachycardia in a child would be classified as ‘persistent’. Results Among 499 respondents, 304 (60.9%) identified tachycardia as ‘persistent’ by 2 h, and 471 (94.3%) by 4 h; the most common response was 2 h (147 (51.2%) doctors; 78 (36.8%) nurses). Conclusions Time based thresholds for ‘persistent tachycardia’ differ. This has implications for its use in rapid‐response systems and early recognition of serious illness.
Authors
- Natalie T Phillips (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7616-5712)
- Meredith Louise Borland (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5326-5008)
- Michael Fahey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0811-4785)
- Stuart R. Dalziel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0522-9579)
- Libby Haskell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8706-3674)
- Simon S. Craig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2594-1643)
- Jeremy Furyk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9503-0928)
- Jessica Kasza (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8940-0136)
- Emily Joy Callander (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7233-6804)
- Shane S. George (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8880-1245)
- Eunicia Tan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6296-3545)
- Anastasia Mutic
- Naomi Loftus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4322-0179)
Institutions
- University of Technology Sydney (AU)
- Griffith University (AU)
- Barwon Health (AU)
- Deakin University (AU)
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
- Geelong Hospital (AU)
- Gold Coast Hospital (AU)
- Middlemore Hospital (NZ)
- Princess Margaret Hospital for Children (AU)
- Monash Medical Centre (AU)
- Monash Health (AU)
- Starship Children's Health (NZ)
- Children's Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service (AU)
- Monash University (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Emergency Medicine Australasia
- Published
- 2025-08-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.70118
- Primary Topic
- Emergency and Acute Care Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
- Cure Kids
- Monash University
- Medical Research Council
- National Health and Medical Research Council