Emergency departments are crowded and unsafe

Not only are emergency departments congested, they’re unsafe.

At least that’s what a survey of doctors and nurses said. The majority reported their EDs “consistently lack sufficient space to deliver patient care, with a third saying the number of patients consistently exceeds their capacity to provide safe care. On the staffing front, two-thirds reported that nursing staff is insufficient to handle patient loads during busy periods, and 40% said they don’t have enough doctors to handle patient loads when it gets busy.”

There is no more money to hire additional providers and nurses to staff the departments appropriately, and as more doctors leave generalist practice, access will continue to suffer.

The situation will only worsen if universal coverage is enacted, which will infuse the system with almost 50 million more insured patients looking for care.

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2. Should emergency departments handle more urgent care cases?
3. Why more emergency departments are shutting down and becoming urgent care centers
4. Are emergency physicians best served to staff urgent care centers?
5. Why nurse practitioners and physician assistants will not solve the primary care shortage
6. Internet cafes and unsafe sex
7. Do HMOs drive blacks to the emergency room?

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Tagged as: emergency, health reform, patient