Doctors who work in emergency rooms are raising awareness of the terrible situation with ER wait times in Edmonton and across the nation.
According to the emergency room you go to, wait periods can range from two to seven hours. At the moment, I’ve observed wait times approaching 18 to 20 hours nationwide, according to paediatric emergency physician Dr. Rod Lim.
“Across the nation, emergency rooms are closing, and wait times have gotten dangerously long,” says emergency physician Dr.
said David Carr.
According to a recent University of Alberta study (https://www. ualberta. ca/folio/2022/10/crowded-emergency-rooms-adding-hidden-expenses-to-health-care-system. html), the need for extra care beyond the initial emergency room visit has resulted in greater costs.
According to research author and business professor at the University of Arizona Mohamad Soltani, “as they get busier, they have less time to spend with the patient directly.”
As an alternative, they order extra tests that may aid in the diagnosis of the problem.
A lack of nurses, for example, makes the situation worse by increasing the burden of the front-line ER staff.
However, Soltani emphasises that there are some things that patients can do to reduce some pressure.
“For the patient side, we propose that the next time you are going to the emergency room, just give it a second thought.
Really, do you need to visit the emergency room? Or do you have any other options for getting care?” asked Soltani.
More substantial improvements to the healthcare system are required, according to Edmonton ER physician Warren Thirsk.
The core of the healthcare system is people, thus people are the ones who take care of people, according to Dr. Thirsk. “We need better planning. We need to accept that we have ran the system too lean.
He claimed that these wait times and staffing shortages are the worst he has ever seen, with healthcare workers and patients ultimately bearing the brunt of the consequences.
“Knowing that we can’t help people like we were trained to do — like we would want our family members to be looked after — is painful to see day after day,” Dr. Thirsk said..
According to a University of Alberta study, overworked ER departments increase healthcare expenditures and workloads.
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