Terminalxylem
Footballguy
ERs across the country are a mess. YLE had a blog entry on it recently, here, with additional commentary here.
The key issues are understaffing and overcrowding, which result in patients spending hours, sometimes days, in the emergency room, potentially delaying critical medical care.
In my hospital, patients are constantly bedded in the ED hallways, or shuffled back-and-forth between examination areas and the waiting room. “Virtual beds” keep popping up in every corner, closet, and otherwise unused space on hospital property. They even bed patients on the lanai outside. And “bed” often means hospital gurney, with a sheet and thin blanket, +/- a pillow (or a second, folded blanket).
ER nurses are forced to take care of patients who should be in the hospital proper, but can‘t go upstairs for lack of beds. Given the hectic environment and lack of floor-specific training, oversights and errors are bound to occur.
And don’t expect to eat anything, or sleep amongst the chaos of beeping alarms, cursing/screaming patients, and ambulance sirens.
Overall it’s a colossal cluster, and only getting worse. What are your experiences?
The key issues are understaffing and overcrowding, which result in patients spending hours, sometimes days, in the emergency room, potentially delaying critical medical care.
In my hospital, patients are constantly bedded in the ED hallways, or shuffled back-and-forth between examination areas and the waiting room. “Virtual beds” keep popping up in every corner, closet, and otherwise unused space on hospital property. They even bed patients on the lanai outside. And “bed” often means hospital gurney, with a sheet and thin blanket, +/- a pillow (or a second, folded blanket).
ER nurses are forced to take care of patients who should be in the hospital proper, but can‘t go upstairs for lack of beds. Given the hectic environment and lack of floor-specific training, oversights and errors are bound to occur.
And don’t expect to eat anything, or sleep amongst the chaos of beeping alarms, cursing/screaming patients, and ambulance sirens.
Overall it’s a colossal cluster, and only getting worse. What are your experiences?