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Content analysis of Australian newspaper portrayals of emergency medicine
John F Kennedy1, Christopher Trethewy, Kevin Anderson
1Emergency Department, Tamworth Base Hospital, Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia. john.kennedy@hnehealth.nsw.gov.au
Objective:
To evaluate portrayals of emergency medicine (EM) in Australian newspapers.
Method:
Systematic content analysis of articles about the ED in four major Australian newspapers.
Results:
From July 2003 to June 2004 176 articles about the ED were published. Articles about ED overload were dominant (37.9% of all subjects identified). Articles about solutions to ED problems (16%) and errors (12.7%) were also prominent. Emergency physicians (EP) provided 13.5% of all of the commentary in the articles. Health administrators, spokespersons and politicians collectively constituted 44.3% of voices. The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) provided little commentary (4%). Overall 18% of articles portrayed EM in a positive light, 37% neutral and 45% negative. The ratio of negative to positive articles was 2.5:1. Page-one stories were mostly concerned with ED overload and errors and were predominantly negative. Positive articles (18%) most commonly covered solutions to problems, 'Life in the Emergency Department' or descriptions of staff involvement with interesting diseases.
Conclusions:
There is a significant media focus on ED problems and errors. The majority of comment comes from politicians and bureaucrats not EP or the ACEM and, overall, the articles examined portrayed EM in a negative light. EP and the ACEM should evaluate ways to improve the interface between the specialty and the media.
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