There is a growing national healthcare crisis that most Emergency Medicine physicians
are acutely aware of, yet the general public seems oblivious to. Our emergency departments
(EDs) are being overwhelmed by massive patient volumes nearing untenable levels. Back
in 2006, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) warned us of this in a report titled “Hospital-Based
Emergency Care: At the Breaking Point.” In that ten-year old report, the IOM noted
that EDs were already overwhelmed and that our patient visits per year were significantly
increasing [
[1]
]. The report stated that patient visits from 1993–2003 had grown from 90.3 million
per year to 113.9 million per year [
[1]
]. Also, the number of EDs had actually decreased and the patients being seen were
reportedly sicker [
[1]
]. Disaster preparedness was a significant concern and the report noted that most city
hospitals were operating at or near capacity and even a multiple car crash would create
havoc in most of these EDs [
[1]
]. In the years since that report, our volumes have continued to climb.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
One-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D; use, select 'Corporate R&D; Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to The American Journal of Emergency MedicineAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Institute of Medicine. Hospital-based emergency care: at the breaking point.National Academies Press, Washington, DC2006 (Available at) (Accessed last October 17, 2016)
- National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.(available at) (Accessed last October 17, 2016)
- Population clock.(available at) (Accessed last October 17, 2016)
- 2015 ACEP poll affordable care act research results, marketing general incorporated.(available at) (Accessed last October 17, 2016)
- Emergency Medicine & Labor Act. 42 U.S. code 1395dd.(available at) (Accessed last October 17, 2016)
- The effects of emergency department crowding on clinically oriented outcomes.Acad Emerg Med. 2009; 16: 1-10
- The impact of emergency department crowding measures on time to antibiotics for patients with community-acquired pneumonia.Ann Emerg Med. 2007; 50: 510-516
- Emergency department crowding and thrombolysis delays in acute myocardial infarction.Ann Emerg Med. 2004; 44: 577-584
- Altered standards of care in mass casualty events. Agency for healthcare research and quality.(available at)https://archive.ahrq.gov/research/altstand/(Accessed last October 17, 2016)Date: April 2005
- Rapporteurs, crisis standards of care: summary of a workshop series. Institute of Medicine.National Academies Press, Washington, DC2010
Article Info
Publication History
Published online: November 03, 2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
