Positive and Negetive Aspects of Emergency Care and Emergency Rooms
Many problems face the emergency room staff in their efforts to carefor a variety of patients with a variety of needs and injuries. One of thenegative aspects faced in the emergency room is the very real possibilityof misdiagnosis because of the frenzied environment and the element of timeare two of the reasons emergency room patients may be misdiagnosed. Oneresearcher notes, "For example, an emergency room physician is sometimesforced to make a decision on the basis of inadequate patient information.Instant information about the patient's medical history, allergies, andmedications would decrease the incidence of these forced errors" (Bogner149). In addition, often the emergency room staff work long shifts, andduring particularly busy shifts they may become overly tired and more proneto make mistakes in diagnosis and treatment. One emergency room failed todetect a punctured intestine in an elderly woman, and she collapsed twodays later with peritonitis. Another failed to x-ray a young mountainbiking accident victim, and two days later, he collapsed with a broken neck(Bogner 57, 151). These are examples of misdiagnosis and treatments thatcould have been prevented, and this is one negative
Another negative aspect of emergency care is the overcrowding of manyemergency rooms, and the long wait patients may have to endure, which canactually add to their medical woes. This overcrowding can lead to long waits for patients needing care,and even some patients being turned away because of lack of bed space orstaff availability. In conclusion, emergency care is growing in this country, and thequality of care is growing, too. Violence and the emergency room just seem to go together, and this isa growing problem for emergency room personnel and other patients, too. The ENA has developed a position on customer service andpatient satisfaction that includes the statement, "The actions andinteractions of the emergency nurse consistently demonstrate efforts tomeet customers' needs for respect, dignity, and quality care" ("CustomerService," 2003). Theresearcher notes, "In one study using focus groups, older emergencydepartment patients spoke of extreme anxiety, confusion, and staffindifference. While there are many negative aspects in emergency room care, thereare also many positive aspects. With advances in medicine and research, there are many options that aremore viable available to patients in care, trauma response, andmedications. Infact, a 2000 survey found that eighty-two percent of nurses reportedassaults during their careers, and twenty-five percent of those were inemergency room settings ("Violence," 2001). This is an advanced systemthat did not exist in emergency rooms of the past, where usually patientswere seen in the order they arrived. There aremany challenges facing emergency care facilities today, but most facilitiesare creating caring environments that serve patients' needs as quickly aspossible. While there are many negative aspects toemergency care, including rising costs, violence in the ER, overcrowding,and some misdiagnosis, there are also many positive aspects of emergencycare, including increased medical quality, and the right to emergency caredespite income or insurance. Clearly,overcrowding is a pressing issue in our nation's emergency rooms, and onethat must be addressed.
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Acceptance Essays
