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Is it true that there is an emergency room crisis in america
Many articles have been written in recent months regarding the critical state of the emergency services in the USA today. Overcrowding, increasing wait times, uninsured patients and inadequate facilities have created a great deal of stress on our hospital system. It is not uncommon to wait 3 to 4 hours before being seen by a physician and then several more hours to await a decision regarding diagnosis and treatment. Violent crime, poverty and inaccessibility to private clinics have magnified the problem.
Emergency Rooms are a primary source of care for uninsured patients, resulting in financial losses and staffing problems within the hospital system. Nevertheless, almost all hospitals are struggling with these problems and are keeping their emergency rooms open. Many of these patients are critically ill and eventually are admitted to the hospital, where further emergency measures may be necessary.
Nevertheless, there has been a decline in the death rate due to the heart attack and stroke in the past decade, largely owning to emergent care of patients with these disorders. Emergency balloon angioplasty and stenting for heart attacks, emergency use of clot-busting drugs in the treatment of strokes, and the use of more sophisticated technology in general have resulted in better outcomes across the board. It also means that less critically ill patients are often put on hold while triage specialists tend to the sickest patients. Thus, a child with an ear ache, a sprained ankle or a sudden skin rash may wait hours longer to be seen.
At the Galichia Heart Hospital we recently opened a state-of-the-art ER facility, which we feel will give our patients better access to care. We opened this high-tech center also to provide better access for the vast array of medical emergencies occurring in our community. We are approaching this problem head on with the best staff, best technology and the highest level of sensitivity to our patients. In that sense, we have become a full service hospital emergency room.
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