Overall public trust in hospital emergency rooms is eroding, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of California-Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. While the causes are expansive and complex, the study concludes that the federal government, insurance companies and medical care organizations need to strengthen efforts to find solutions.
Emergency rooms that are often overcrowded with staff who are overwhelmed place patients at risk.
The report highlights the following problems the industry must address to regain greater trust in emergency departments:
- more patients are showing up at emergency rooms with non-emergency complaints;
- many patients go to emergency rooms because they cannot get timely appointments with their primary care physicians; and
- general hospital overcrowding has direct effects on emergency rooms as patients often wait there for a bed to become available.
The report is published in the January issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
(University of California-Davis Medical Center, 916/734-9040)