You are hereWe Don't Understand the Word "Emergency"
We Don't Understand the Word "Emergency"
There are a lot of things that lead me to believe that the title is true, but this is certainly one of the more disappointing and upseting ones. More than half of Canadians seeking treatment at hospital emergency rooms are there for less-than-urgent conditions, a new report said Wednesday.- Globe and MailI'm not going to say I'm perfect, I've been to emergency a few times in my life... I've had something removed from my ear, tried to have something removed from an eye - it turned out to be an infection, and had my chin stiched up. Maybe only one of them was really an emergency... The article's stats show that there are about 14 million visits per year to the nation's emergency rooms, and that the number has been fairly constant the last few years. What would happen if we could cut the half of visits that aren't necessary? Think of how much better things could be...
This other side of the coin, Dave, would be that I personally have gone to the hospital, complaining of mild chest pains. Not so much actual smashing chest pains, but more like a pulled muscle. And 6 hours later, I got my ECG done, and was told that all was well, and that I probably should just chill out and drink less coffee. The point being, they didn't KNOW that my allegedly mild chest pains, wasn't just me trying to be macho and tolerate what in fact may have been a heart attack, or something like it (aortic dissection, aneurysm, etc). Admittedly, were there less people getting their hangnails looked at, maybe I get in quicker. But from all I know of hospitals and things medical, chest pains usually jump you up on the list, slightly below open gushing wounds, and accident victims. And yet a 6 hour wait. Hmmmm. (Incidently, never had them since. But I don't drink as much coffee anymore :)).
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