Older, uninsured and intoxicated patients wait even longer, studyfinds. FRIDAY, May 4 (HealthDay News) -- Patients with mental healthemergencies wait an average of 11.5 hours -- nearly half a day --in hospital emergency departments, and those who are older,uninsured or intoxicated wait even longer, a new study says. Overall, patients with psychiatric emergencies wait about 42percent longer in the emergency department than other patients,according to the findings published online May 1 in the Annals of Emergency Medicine . "These patients are waiting the longest for care, and shrinkingresources are having a disproportionate effect on these veryvulnerable people," lead study author Dr. Anthony Weiss, ofMassachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said in a journal newsrelease.
The researchers looked at five hospital-based ERs within thegreater Boston area. Weiss and colleagues analyzed the records of nearly 1,100 adultspatients with psychiatric emergencies to determine how long it tookpatients to see a doctor and get a psychiatric evaluation. Patientswho were sent home after being seen by medical staff spent anaverage of 8.6 hours in the emergency department, while patientswho were eventually admitted to a psychiatric unit within thehospital had an average emergency department stay of 11 hours. Patients who were transferred to an outside unit within the localhealth care system stayed in the emergency department for anaverage of 12.9 hours, while those transferred to a facilityoutside the local health care system stayed 15 hours. The average length of emergency department stay was 10.7 hours forpatients aged 18 to 39 and 12.6 hours for patients older than 60.The one-third of patients who tested positive for alcohol had anaverage stay of 14.5 hours.
There were no differences in how long it took for patients withpublic insurance such as Medicare or Medicaid or private insuranceto be treated; however, uninsured patients spent four more hours inthe ER than these other groups, according to researchers. "Between 2000 and 2007, psychiatric visits to ERs grew by 231percent," Weiss said. "This increase in volume, when combined withfewer resources outside the ER, has led to a real crisis for thispopulation. Long waits for care aren't good for anyone but they areespecially harmful to patients in psychiatric distress." More information The American College of Emergency Physicians has more about emergency department waiting times.
SOURCE: Annals of Emergency Medicine , news release, May 2, 2012 Copyright © 2012 HealthDay . All rights reserved. I am an expert from Chemical Machinery, usually analyzes all kind of industries situation, such as pink notebook cases , cd storage drawer.
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