Hospital emergency care: societal issue - Next-Day Care for Emergency Department Users with Nonacute Conditions - Essay Example

They use the Emergency Department rather than outpatient clinics as a principal source of care. Many had no insurance and no regular primary care doctors. There is a crucial need to find alternative, safe, and acceptable ways to provide care for these patients (Washington et al, 2002). The hospital Emergency Department is designed and staffed to treat patients in need of emergency or urgent care, which is provided on an as-needed basis. Patients are treated only for urgent or life-threatening symptoms, illnesses and injuries which can be readily resolved.

Otherwise, deferred care is given: the patient is referred for further care after admission as an inpatient in the same facility, referred to a clinical or private physician or transferred to another hospital for specialized treatment (Manger, 2001). Approximately 93 percent of community hospitals in the United States have Emergency Departments. Misuse of E.Ds has come under intense scrutiny because routine care is now being delivered in these expensive facilities at high costs (McCarthy and Schafermeyer, 2007).

Emergency departments report being under increasing pressure with the number of visits from patients steadily rising. There was an increase of 14 percent from an estimated 95 million in 1997 to an estimated 108 million in 2000, while the number of hospitals with emergency departments decreased by about 2 percent. This pressure has led to considerable overcrowding in the emergency departments of many of the hospitals. There is consequent impact on the availability of facilities such as ambulances, and the crowded conditions can also lead to long waits for care which can prolong pain and suffering (United States G.A.O, 2003).

The chronic problem of overcrowding is often the result of too many people using the emergency department as their primary care physician because they have no other means of care, or they have no insurance or money to