Posts Tagged ‘emergency’

In the midst of the U.S. healthcare debate comes another reason why everyone of us should have basic health coverage. A new study by Harvard University researchers found that uninsured patients with traumatic injuries (such as car crashes, falls and gunshot wounds) were almost twice as likely to die in the hospital as similarly injured patients with health insurance. Taking into account injury severity, race, gender and age uninsured patients were still 80% more likely to die than those with insurance, including Medicaid. It’s shocking and unclear just why the uninsured fare worse in terms of ER care, since it’s largely assumed – and federally mandated – that all unstable patient receive equal care in ERs. One reason this might occur is that private hospitals can transfer uninsured patients to public hospitals once patients are stable. A transfer could then worsen a patient’s condition by delaying treatment. The findings are based on an analysis of data from the National Trauma Data Bank, which includes more than 900 U.S. hospitals. [via New York Times]

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BMW and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research are involved in a new project titled “SmartSenior – Intelligent services for senior citizens.” The goal of the project is the development of intelligent technology which recognizes and assists senior citizens in emergency road situations.  BMW is working on a safety system called Emergency Stop Assistant that will sense medical dangers, such as those associated with heart attacks, stroke and diabetes. Once an emergency is detect (through sensors that monitor vital signs disbursed throughout the car) the system will switch to an autonomous driving mode to safely stop the vehicle out of harm’s way.

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As winter continues in the northern hemisphere, dialysis patients are urged to plan for potential storms that can cause disruptions in their treatment schedules. Dialysis is a procedure used to provide artificial kidney function to those with kidney failure. Skipping dialysis treatments can cause serious metabolic problems and can lead to cardiac arrhythmias and even coma. Here are some tips for dialysis patients and their caretakers:

- Speak to your doctor to formulate an emergency plan.
- Keep emergency phone numbers accessible.
- Be aware of local weather warnings.
- If you perform dialysis at home, speak with your provider to make sure you know what to do in the even the power goes out.

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According to new CDC data the average wait time at US hospital emergency rooms have increased from 38 minutes to nearly one hour over the past decade. At the same time the number of emergency departments have dropped, which further exacerbates the problem. Emergency departments are often forced to shut down due to poor reimbursement for the services they provide. At the same time more and more patients are using the ER as their primary care facility for a variety of reasons – delaying care due to increased health care costs, difficulty in getting appointments to see their physicians in a timely manner, and lack of health insurance. The results are troubling, but not surprising. Full story.