What is the ER's respond when ER is overcrowded?
Question:
In case of ectopic pregnancy and should be operated immediately. But due to short of hospital resourses such as crowded O.R., shortage of OB/GY surgeons, etc.,
Answers:
Hospitals are very good at triage, meaning they are very good at sorting out who needs immediate attention and who does not. Broken arms take second place to heart attack symptoms, or stroke symptoms, or ectopic pregnancies.
And ERs, at least where I live, always have at least two surgeons available--one who is on site, and one who is on-call. Since they are general surgeons, they can deal with everything from an ectopic pregnancy to a ruptured appendix. They also always have specialists on call, like cardiac surgeons and neurosurgeons. The doctors who are on call take their jobs very seriously, and if you come in with a cardiac situation that requires immediate surgical intervention, you are taken to pre-op almost immediately, and by the time they have you cleaned up and anesthetized, the doctor is ready to go.
One of the reasons why there is concern about overcrowding is because a lot of people show up in the ER who ideally should not be there. Yes, they are very sick, and need to be treated, but it's because they don't have health insurance, and they are unable to see a regular doctor until their health concerns become emergencies. If someone with a respiratory infection could just see a regular doctor at his office, and get some antibiotics, their problems would most likely be solved. Unfortunately, due to lack of resources and medical insurance, they are unable to do that, so they end up in the ER when they have double pneumonia and are getting weird in the head from very low O2 levels. That's a tragedy, in my eyes.
When we are "overcrowded" and unable to accept any more non-emergent patients we go on what is called diversion. This means that the medical units are to go to another hospital unless the situation is life threatening and we are the nearest facility. By the way...do you know why the ER is "overcrowded". It's because too many people use it for their primary care. They go there with colds, moles and sore assholes.
Triage, of course. Hard to do, but a necessary evil. Choking, strokes, and heart attacks first, drunks and splinters last.
The ERs response is to close. It starts by closing to ambulance traffic, then it progresses to the permanent closing of doors. Too many people use the Emergency Medical System as a doctor's office. Instead of going to see their doctor (or going to the clinic) when they feel poorly, they invade the Emergency Rooms. If ERs were used by people in true emergencies (not "my hand has been hurting for three weeks"), there would be no overcrowding. But a lack of medical insurance drives people to do questionable things.
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