Grim News On The State Of U.S. ERs

Study Finds Major Disaster Could Spell Trouble For Industry

(CBS)  A recent study found that nationwide, emergency rooms are inadequately prepared to treat the increasing number of patients. As medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay reports, a major disaster could spell major trouble for the industry.

Asked what the idea behind the study was, Dr. Senay says, "The Institute of Medicine,
which is an independent body of scientists that gets together to answer tough questions put to it by the government, took a very close look at emergency rooms and emergency room services. The reason for that is everyone knows that emergency services in this country have been on decline over the last 10 to 15 years. Meanwhile, usage is up dramatically, 26 percent."

One reason for the dramatic increase in patients is that many uninsured people use the emergency room as their primary source for medical care.

The panel took a close look at what is going on and identified some problems but also identified some solutions.

"The first thing is the system as it stands now is really unprepared for a major disaster. I mean, if there were to be another natural disaster, such as Katrina, or there were to be another terrorist attack or an outbreak of serious infectious disease the system really probably couldn't handle it and I think Katrina was an excellent hint," Dr. Senay explains.

"Second, Overcrowding. Very often, people will wait hours, if not days, in emergency departments waiting to get a bed in the hospital. That's a very serious problem," Dr. Senay says. "Ambulance diversions, one study suggested that 500,000 times a year people must be taken to locales that are not close to them because the emergency department in their area cannot handle their case at that time."

Asked why patients are being diverted and whether the cost of treatment is a factor, Dr. Senay says, "It's not a matter of affording to treat. It's really a matter of coordination and working together with the other systems that are within a particular locale. Since there are no guidelines for that, very often you have a variety of different systems, public systems, private systems, trying to coordinate something … you know it's very difficult to do in the first place. People must be given care. It's just a matter of coordinating handling what at any given moment."

The Institute of Medicine did have some recommendations on what can be done to improve emergency room care and preparedness.

"First of all, get Congress involved, obviously. Better funding for emergency departments, better funding so that all emergency departments around the country can have the best equipment possible. That's where it's got to start," Dr. Senay explains.

What about overcrowding?

"What they want to see happen is they want to give incentives, financial incentives to those hospitals that learn how to take in patients who need care and manage them better," Dr. Senay explains. "They also want to give financial penalties to those hospitals that don't."

Asked how it can be ensured that patients get the medical care they ought to get, Dr. Senay says, "Better funding from Congress and managing some of the broader healthcare issues in this country such as the insurance problem."