acute care or er?

› By Jim Gibson

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 130 million Americans visit the emergency room (ER) each year. This prodigious number almost invariably means two things: overcrowding and long wait periods to be seen by a physician. Although the CDC says the national average wait time in the ER is 30 minutes, anyone who has required emergency treatment in Central Florida recently might have had a very di erent experience.

What are the most common factors contributing to ER overcrowding and extended wait periods?

NON-EMERGENCY USE

Many ERs are used by persons who have non-emergency illnesses or injuries such as a bad cold, earache, sprained ligaments or strained muscles, minor cuts, etc. In some instances, ER care actually takes the place of a patient’s primary care physician, and studies show that almost 40 percent of all ER visits are nonemergent situations.

Boarding Patients

When an ER patient requires admission to the hospital, many times he or she must wait hours or even days for a bed to become available. This means the patient must wait in the ER, thereby taking up a bed that could be used to see emergency patients.

Epidemics

An outbreak of the flu or a stomach virus can inundate an ER in a matter of hours. With influenzarelated deaths estimated to be as high as 56,000 per year, every single case of the flu has to be treated as a serious concern.

Er Availability

According to the American Hospital Association, even though ER visits have increased more than 1.5 times over the last 20 years, there are approximately

550 less ERs nationwide.

The Answer To Er Overcrowding

“Acute care facilities were created to help ease the strain of ER overcrowding,” says Melinda Rogers, ARNP, of Express Care of Ocala. “To a certain extent, they have helped ease the large number of ER visits, but I feel acute care is very under-utilized. I really don’t think that most people know the wide range of things that we can treat in the outpatient setting.”

According to Rogers, acute care facilities are designed to take the load o of ER facilities

Emergency Room

• Treats lifethreatening illnesses or injuries

• Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week

• Has in-house lab, X-ray, CT scans, etc.

• Sta ed to treat all types of medical emergencies

• Access to specialized care, such as surgical needs, trauma care, etc.