“We are slowly coming down from a peak in respiratory illness. This past winter was a real test,” Kristen Panthagani and Katelyn Jetelina write over at Your Local Epidemiologist. “How will our hospitals — the safety net of our society — fare, given the combination of:
- Year 4 of a pandemic with a new threat to our repertoire,
- A recent surge of respiratory viruses,
- An aging population, and,
- A massive infrastructure problem decades in the making.
“The answer is in — our hospitals are overwhelmed. And it has now reached a crisis point. It is killing people. Emergency medicine doctors across the country have been sounding the alarm. Americans are noticing it too. In a recent poll, nearly half of Americans said they avoid the ER — avoid critical care they need — given the wait times. Here’s what is happening on the front line and how to fix it. … The emergency room (ER) is the front door of the hospital. Patients come and are quickly seen by a physician, who addresses medical emergencies and other needs. After evaluation and treatment, many are well enough to go home, and some require admission to the hospital. Those admitted patients are seen by the inpatient team of doctors and taken to a hospital bed upstairs. But what if there are no open beds upstairs? Those patients wait in the ER until a bed opens. These patients are called ‘boarders.’ Over the last two decades, this problem has grown and grown, causing a nasty clog. We haven’t fixed it, and it’s now overwhelming ERs nationwide. Boarding patients are waiting hours, days, or even weeks in the ER. It creates an unsafe environment for patients.” Kristen Panthagani and Katelyn Jetelina, “Emergency rooms are not O.K. It has now reached a crisis point. It is killing people,” Your Local Epidemiologist.
