August 11, 2008
Albuquerque Journal
Busy Hospitals Must Redirect ER Traffic (Editorial)
More people are going to emergency rooms, which can't legally turn people away and can't put people in hospital beds they don't have ready. Those are among the big reasons average ER waits have grown from 38 minutes to close to an hour nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The wait times make it essential for ER managers, hospital officials and health-plan execs to double as traffic cops and keep patients moving, be it into the hospital, an office appointment or urgent care.
Dr. Stephen Pitts, lead author of the CDC report, says "the ER has become the front door to the hospital." In Albuquerque, some hospitals have traffic signals of sorts. But with ER wait times here double or even triple the national average, we need more.
Presbyterian Hospital uses a system to speed discharges and increase staffing during rush hours. Lovelace Medical Center Downtown channels drunks to a room where they can sober up without backing up medical emergencies. And Pres, Lovelace and University of New Mexico Hospital have a deal so drunks get minimal care at the county detox center.
But the fact our wait times are well above the national average mean more needs to be done, from setting up office visits for non-emergencies to offering urgent-care treatment after hours. Both divert traffic to other front doors. Neither is as expensive to walk through, or as critical to get through quickly in a real emergency.