FierceHealthcareFierceHealthITFierceHealthFinanceFierceEMRHospital ImpactFierceMobileHealthcare   FiercePharma

ER death points at growing problem

Tools
Tags
emergency departments
emergency care
indigent patients

Earlier this week, a 49-year-old woman from Illinois died of a heart attack after waiting two hours in Vista Medical Center's emergency room. Her tragic death points to serious problems in the nation's emergency departments, and some doctors are saying that it was only a matter of time until overcrowding in the ER resulted in a patient's death. "There is a crisis that has been here so long that we don't even recognize it as a crisis anymore," emergency care physician Dr. Phil Brewer noted in the Hartford Courant. Many factors have contributed to the ER's increasingly crowded waiting rooms: More patients are forgoing expensive medical coverage and using ERs as a last resort when they are ill; the nation's massive baby boomer population needs more care; low Medicaid reimbursements have forced indigent patients out of primary care practices and into ERs; illegal immigrants, released inmates and homeless people have nowhere else to go for help. The list goes on. In Connecticut, a group of medical professionals met this week to discuss ways to alleviate the problem. They'll be reporting their recommendations next month.

For more on problems in the ER:
- read this article from Courant.com

PLUS: Centinela Freeman HealthSystem in Inglewood, CA said that it will close the doors to its emergency room as of November. Emergency patients will be rerouted to Centinela's nearby sister hospital and other patients will be directed to an urgent care center. Observers are concerned about the impact Centinela's closure--the area's tenth in just five years--will have on L.A.'s strained emergency care system. Report

Bookmark and Share
Get Your FREE FierceHealthcare Email Newsletter:
Be the first to comment

Comments

If Emergency Departments would quit using their system where patients are routed to where they are seen by a NP or PA, vs. an MD first, and LISTEN to the patient and the patient's problems, that these symptoms are new, rather than arbitrarily deciding who sees which patient, there would be less patient's deaths, even if it's only one or two. It's obvious this patient was Triaged, then seen by an NP or PA, marked with colors they use depending on what they feel the status of the patient is instead of listening to the patient, then it would be fine for them to see an NP or PA. I was directed to go last week because I have been battling Cellulitis in one of my hands as I have STAPH/MRSA colonized there, and tried to explain I had been DIRECTED TO GO TO THE ED BY BOTH MY PCP AND PAIN MANAGEMENT PHYSICIAN, that should mean the patient does have a problem that must be addressed by an MD. And as we all know, X-rays don't show soft tissue damage or as in my case, possible problems with my Portacath, I am still having problems with. I realize ED's are often overflowing with patients as I used to be a volunteer EMT in my local ED's, but many patients were undermedicated and undertreated. I find even one deah appalling, because that woman, odds are, was directed to go by her Physician as well.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.

More information about formatting options

To combat spam, please enter the code in the image.