“E” is for emergency

E really is for emergency, more hospitals say | Florida Times-Union | 11.30.06

In mid-November, Orange Park Medical Center became the second Northeast Florida emergency room in recent months to ask the least sick of its patients to turn elsewhere for care or face a $100 fee.

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“There really is a national push to get ERs back to their original intent[.]“

Where does your problem fall?

• Category 1: the patient needs to be seen immediately; e.g., a heart attack or profound injuries from an accident.
• Category 2: strong potential for emergency; doctors need to fully examine the patient; e.g., could be serious abdominal or chest pain.
• Category 3: potential emergency; the situation could develop into a full-fledged emergency; e.g., could be abdominal or chest pain, high fever or a major cut.
• Category 4: not an emergency; these patients have satisfactory temperatures and blood pressure;they don’t immediately need any tests or labs and don’t need an X-ray; e.g., include dental problems, colds and minor injuries.
• Category 5: referred elsewhere for treatment.

10 Reasons

1. Emergency Medicine has been a willing victim of its own success.
2. Emergency Medicine has been all too willing to cover for the deficiencies in the availability of primary care (in terms of numbers and time).
3. Emergency Medicine is not an essential service, but a convenient service.
4. Emergency Medicine should be no more a marketing tool for a hospital then a police or fire department is for a city.
5. Emergency Medicine is a primary specialty, not primary care.
6. Triage is really about meeting needs, not the toll booth on the way to the pharmacy.
7. The internet is only a little bit better then tea leaves in its ability to diagnosis health problem, only because you don’t have to boil the water.
8. “Next” is not a guarantee.
9. We want a safety net, not a circus tent.
10. “Just go to the ER” is not a national health policy.