Posts Tagged ‘ER’

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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People have pets for a reason – they make us downright happy. Dogs and cats provide companionship for many and the act of petting one has been shown to reduce blood pressure. However, there are some little known risks that some may not be aware of as pet owners. According to the latest statistics, an average of 86,629 Americans visit emergency rooms each year due to falls caused by pets and pet paraphernalia. 88% of these falls involved dogs and 12% were cat-related. Approximately a third of falls caused broken bones. This CDC study is the first national study of pet-related injuries. Read more pet-related injury statistics.

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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center researchers published in the journal Neurology yesterday that migraines and other types of headaches can be related to temperature and weather. Looking at seven years of emergency room data, researchers found a correlation between onset of headache and higher mean ambient temperature during the 24 hours before coming to the ER. Also, low barometric pressure (often related to storms) 48 to 72 hours prior to emergency room visits was also linked to increased risk of headache.

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A British survey suggests that television shows, like ER, make people more confident in attempting cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in real life should the situation arise. The same survey shows that the majority of people do not know how to give CPR, which involves compressing a person’s chest to assist in blood circulation, and giving them breathes through their airway. However, healthcare workers are taught that some CPR is better than no CPR. Even if you’re not doing it completely right, you are at least giving someone who isn’t breathing a chance.

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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.