Washington, DC - A new report released yesterday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds emergency departments in metropolitan areas burdened disproportionately by nursing shortages, ambulance diversion, and most significantly, overcrowding. While 40 to 50 percent of U.S. hospitals overall report overcrowded emergency departments, almost two-thirds (63.7 percent) of metropolitan emergency departments report overcrowding.
“The CDC report confirms the findings of recent reports from the Institute of Medicine and our own ‘Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine,’” said Frederick Blum, MD, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians. “Emergency departments are overflowing and patient care is suffering. That is true whether you live in West Virginia or New York City, and the problem is getting worse, not better.”
Recent events illustrate the report’s findings. Memorial Hospital of Inglewood, California this week announced the closure of its emergency department. Nearby King Drew Medical Center received a failing grade from federal regulators, which is likely to lead to its closure. Between them, the two hospitals treat 100,000 emergency patients a year. The loss of these two emergency departments in Los Angeles is certain to further strain other Los Angeles emergency departments, which already suffer from some of the nation’s worst overcrowding.
The CDC report found that one-half of metropolitan emergency departments experience ambulance diversion, an effect of overcrowding. Ambulance diversion at one hospital tends to lead to diversion at neighboring hospitals, creating dangerous delays for very sick patients. The report also found shortages of on-call specialists and nurses to be affecting all emergency departments and their patients, with metropolitan hospitals reporting much more acute nursing shortages than their non-metropolitan counterparts.
“Our emergency departments are in crisis,” said Dr. Blum. “Physicians know it, nurses know it, and patients know it. Lawmakers are aware of the problem. Now it’s a matter of doing something, and time is running out. We are asking the public to visit www.acep.org and send a message to their lawmakers to pass the Access to Emergency Medical Services Act. The legislation would provide an alternate medical liability system for physicians who provide uncompensated care in an emergency department, provide financial incentives to end the practice of ‘boarding’ patients in emergency departments, and increase Medicare payments to physicians who provide care in emergency departments.”
ACEP is a national medical society representing specialists in emergency medicine. With nearly 24,000 members, ACEP is committed to advancing emergency care through continuing education, research, and public education. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, ACEP has 53 chapters representing each state, as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Government Services Chapter represents emergency physicians employed by military branches and other government agencies.