Boy, do we need primary care

From ACEP’s The Central Line:

Note how many of these problems we’re facing in our specialty are due to a lack of availability of primary care physicians. A ton. Let’s forget the uninsured for a minute, since the vast majority of people in the United States have some type of health insurance. We know that overall it’s the insured patients that are causing the increased number of ED visits. Some are impatient and don’t want to wait, sure, but most people probably don’t want to see a strange ED doctor; most would choose their regular doctor if they could see him/her in a timely fashion. So we’re seeing a perfect storm right now:

• EDs closing while visits are increasing;
• Lack of primary care physicians filling the spots of those who are retiring;
• A growing population;
• An aging population that requires more care;
• A recession;
• A possible bad influenza season with fears already high from earlier this year.

The Q Word

From the EM Blog:

Ever walk into a morning ER shift and note an atypically serene atmosphere with a couple of polite patients occupying only two of your 40 ED beds? You’re first reaction is to utter a conversational prediction- “Hey, looks like we’re going to have a quiet shift today” As soon as the dreaded “Q” word leaves your lips, every heads turns towards you in the department– nurses, clerks, residents, consultants, housekeeping, phlebotomy, and radiology techs all glare at you as if you just completely jinxed the entire shift. For within minutes, half the population of the northern hemisphere is suddenly going to attack your ED like a critically ill swat team equipped with hot oil and battering rams.

“Remember that patient you saw….?”

From ACEP’s Blog, The Central Line:

Hey, Remember That Patient You Saw…

… are the least favorite words you can hear as an Emergency Physician. Using the latest in Neuronal Pathway Imaging Technology, we here at The Central Line have actually been able to map what happens when you hear these words from a colleague: