Amy Traub

Letter to the Editor of the Week!

This week's letter to the editor, which comes to us from the Washington Post, takes a closer look at the crisis in our nation's emergency rooms.

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Remedying the Crisis in Emergency Care
The Washington Post, Thursday, June 22, 2006; A28

The Institute of Medicine's June 14 report, "The Future of Emergency Care in the United States Health System" [front page, June 15], provides evidence that the nation's emergency departments have reached a crisis point.

Emergency department overcrowding stems from an ever-increasing number of patients, who are often uninsured. However, "overcrowded" can also mean "understaffed."

While some rural hospitals have staffing difficulties stemming from a lack of physicians specialized in emergency medicine, others have excessively long waiting times for patients because of intentional understaffing by profit-seeking corporations hiring only enough physicians to "just get by."

Until the government steps in and takes measures to eliminate the ability of corporations to split off a portion of professional revenue above and beyond fair management costs, the state of emergency care will not improve.

TOM SCALETTA
President
American Academy of Emergency Medicine
Milwaukee

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Tom Scaletta, we salute you! Cost-cutting on ER staffing doesn't end with skimping on doctors, though. The temptation to understaff to maximize profits extends to ER nurses as well.

As for the consequences, an ER chief asks in the original article, "If you can barely get through the night's 911 calls, how on earth can you handle a disaster?"

Amy Traub: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 9:14 AM, Jun 24, 2006 in Health Care | Letter To The Editor of the Week | public services
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