• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

National studies show under funded, overcrowded emergency rooms

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, June 30, 2006

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education!

Patients had an average wait of 47 minutes in hospital emergency rooms before seeing a doctor in 2004, up from 38 minutes in 1997, according to new federal reports on U.S. healthcare visits. Overall, the report, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics, found Americans made more than 1.1 billion visits to emergency departments, doctor's offices, and hospital outpatient centers in 2004-a new record.

The report comes a week after the Institute of Medicine-drawing on earlier National Center for Health Statistics data-reported the nation had 114 million ER visits in 2003, up from 90 million a decade earlier, and only about half were true medical emergencies. The institute's report states that in 2003, more than 114 million patients visited emergency rooms-a 26% increase from the past decade. During that time, 703 hospitals closed.

The results from the new reports are based on surveys of more than 400 hospitals and about 1,400 doctor's offices. Federal healthcare facilities are not included.

Sources: The Associated Press and Duluth News Tribune

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive