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Hospital-Based Emergency Care
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Hospital-based emergency and trauma care is critically important to the health and well-being of Americans. In 2003, nearly 114 million visits were made to hospital emergency departments (EDs)—more than one for every three people in the United States. About one-quarter of those visits were due to unintentional injuries, the leading cause of death for people aged 1 through 44. While most Americans encounter the ED only rarely, they count on it to be there when they need it. Over the last several decades, the role of hospital-based emergency and trauma care has evolved. EDs continue to focus on their traditional mission of providing urgent and lifesaving care, but have taken on additional responsibilities to meet the needs of communities, providers, and patients. Today, their complex role also encompasses safety net care for uninsured patients, public health surveillance, disaster preparedness, and serving as an adjunct to community physician practices. In some rural communities, the hospital ED may be the main source of health care for a widely dispersed population. While the demands on emergency and trauma care have grown dramatically, however, the capacity of the system has not kept pace. Balancing these roles in the face of increasing patient volume and limited resources has become increasingly challenging. The situation is creating a widening gap between the quality of emergency care Americans expect and the quality they actually receive.
Committee on the Future of Emergency Care in the United States Health System - Organizational Body
978-0-309-10173-8
NONE
Management
English
2007
1-425
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