NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – The first COVID, and this season, increases the respiratory virus RSV, and flu. Emergency rooms across the country are exploding. ER overcrowding has been a health concern for years, but now, health experts say it has reached crisis levels. Here’s more on what it can mean for patients who need emergency care.
Imagine racing to the local emergency room and you don’t wait minutebut hour to be seen, then the ER doctor admits you to the hospital, but there are no beds.
Yale School of Medicine emergency room physician Arjun Venkatesh, MD and colleagues have documented the spread and increase. in a pair of recently published studies, researchers looked first at how long patients waited in the ER before being admitted.
“People who come to the emergency department are evaluated, they receive diagnostics and treatment, then they need hospitalization. They have to stay in the hospital and wait two, three, four, up to 12 and 24 hours for a bed in the hospital,” Dr. Venkatesh emphasized.
The researchers said the waiting time, called boarding time, was higher than the national recommendation, which is no more than four hours waiting. As a result, Dr. Venkatesh says one out of every 10 patients will drop out.
Researchers say health care workforce shortages are leading to hospital overcrowding — resulting in longer ER wait times. Dr. Venkatesh says hospitals may need to rethink how they deliver health care.
“We need to figure out how to get people back to the bedside who have the training and skills to do it. And maybe, we start using artificial intelligence, computer technology, other tools that need to be done in the back office so that those people can take care of patients and be more effective to do it,” he said.
Previous studies have found emergency department overcrowding not only leads to delays in treatment, but prolonged illness and death. For healthcare workers, overcrowding leads to higher doctor and nurse turnover, and higher burnout. And in a new study, published in December, researchers found that overworked ER doctors may be misdiagnosing patients who come through the door.
Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Producer; Kirk Manson, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
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Source:
https://news.yale.edu/2022/09/30/emergency-department-crowding-hits-crisis-levels-risking-patient-safety
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