Created by Deb Harris
2002
1. Lack of beds for Admitted Patients
- Over the past 5 years, hospital beds in Canada have been reduced by almost 40 percent nationally.
2. Lack of Access to Primary Care, Specialist Physicians, and Nurse Practitioners
- Shortage of family physicians, nurse practitioners and many specialists in Canada.
- Patients seek Ed care when they do not have a family physician, cannot see their physician within an appropriate length of time, when the waiting time for their specialist, test or procedure becomes too long.
- They seek care in the ED because they know that there is a "Specialist" on call
- ED have become the "safety net"of the system, but are sagging under the growing weight
3. Shortage of Nursing and Physician staff
- Losing experienced staff
- Can not get staffing do frustrating work environment in the ED
4. Increased Complexity and Acuity of patients presenting to the Emergency Department [ED]
- Aging population causes a growing number of patients with chronic conditions such emphysema, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease who require emergency services.
5. Large Volumes of Patients with non-urgent problems who could be assessed and treated in another setting
- Non-urgent patients are not a major problem in the ED. In fact efforts to divert these patients to other settings will not solve the problem, will increase costs elsewhere in the health care system, and will divert attention from the real problems.
6. Lack of alternative advanced diagnostic testing and facilities
- Lack of available advanced diagnostic testing in the community causes problems for most ED
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Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians