Emergency Room Crisis

Emergency Room Crisis

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If you're rushing to the emergency room, you need help right away. It turns out you'll just have to get in line and wait. Emergency room wait times across the country have been a concern for years and a new study reveals that in the 21st century wait times are actually getting worse.

Over half of patients deemed to need emergency care -- meaning they should see a doctor in 14 minutes or less -- actually saw a physicianin this time frame.Researchers looked at data representing nearly 540 million emergency room visits in the US between 1997 and 2006. They analyzed how often patients in each emergency category were seen within the recommended wait time. "Emergent" patients must be seen within 14 minutes, while "urgent" patients require care in 15 to 60 minutes. "Semi-urgent" patients should receive care within two hours, while "non-urgent" patients can wait longer. In 1997, the researchers found, 59 percent of emergent patients were seen within 14 minutes, compared to 48 percent in 2006. For urgent patients, the likelihood of being seen on time went from 84 percent in 1997 to 76 percent in 2006. Semi-urgent patients also were less likely to be seen in a timely fashion over time; 91 percent were seen within the recommended amount of time in 1997, but 85 percent were in 2006.

Hispanic patients and African-American patients were less likely to be seen in the recommended amount of time than whites, the researchers found, but whether or not a person had health insurance didn't influence their likelihood of getting care on time.
Patient care advocates and emergency room healthcare experts say emergency rooms are typically the places in hospitals which are the most crowded, drastically understaffed, and have the longest wait times for care. This can lead to instances of medical malpractice due to any of the following:


-Delay in care causing an increase injury and illness

-Patients not being properly monitored

-Incorrect diagnoses that are incorrect

-Diagnoses of illness too late for care

-Incorrect or inappropriate treatment

-Inappropriate doses administered

-Errors in lab tests

-Over dosage

In the past, some hospitals have tried implementing different systems to try and increase productivity and reduce wait time. Patients were color-coded and fast-tracked on an elaborate computer system. Researchers are not sure how hospitals will solve this growing dilmena. They say while improving electronic health care information systems could also add efficiency no one move will get things right. Many are turning their attention to health care reform in hopes it will offer some promise of help

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