2024-10-07 13:26:00
Within the health system crisisa survey confirmed a hypothesis about one of the distortions that usually fuel this crisis: only 2.6% of the people who attend a guard do so for a real emergency.
The work released by Clarion was made by Committee of Health Directors of Adecra+Cedim In 28 guards from private health centers in the city, suburbs and interior of the country, between March 1 and May 31 this year and was shared with the title: “Attention and waiting in the emergency services of health centers. Time for options for patients”.
Five keys to understanding the crisis of the Argentine healthcare system
Authoritarians don’t like this
The practice of professional and critical journalism is a fundamental pillar of democracy. This is why it bothers those who believe they are the holders of the truth.
“In our country, emergency rooms present a repeated image: waiting rooms often full of patients who are impatient with the service times”he indicated the group that brings together more than 400 private health institutions and clarified that this phenomenon “represents a problem in multiple countries” and not just in Argentina.
The research mentions that, among the reasons why patients go to the departments, there are “l accessibility to these servicesTHE fast availability of complementary methods, Suggestion from the family doctor and the difficulties in primary care or in clinics”.
“This contributes to congestion, which is associated with undesirable patient outcomes”concluded the report and highlighted, as an example of these findings, the delay in starting treatment, leaving against medical recommendation or without a full assessment, as well as staff dissatisfaction and burnout in these areas.
The research, in which emergency consultations and hospitalizations, as well as frequency, in adults and pediatrics were measured, was carried out with a representation of the 57% of the health centers of Buenos Aires, 18% of the Conurbano and 25% of the provinces.
“In the 90 days measured the institutions intervened 1,045,900 queries in emergency areas. 52% of these consultations were concentrated between 2pm and 10pm, with those coming from medical clinicwith an average of 69.5%,” the report states.
One of the most striking points of the publication is that in the centers where measurements of the degree of urgency and severity of the clinical picture were presented, “a clear polarization of low-risk consultations, with an average of 84.5%.. “12.9% were intermediate risk and only 2.6% were high risk and life-threatening.”
Jorge Colina: “The healthcare system will only start to recover in 2025”
“It is telling that an average of 84.5% of consultations had a low priority of care, which does not mean they are inadequate. The question is: Are low-risk patients eligible for on-call care, or should patients be provided options that represent a better use of time and resources?“, the doctors involved in the study reflected.
In this regard, the report reiterates that “Recent years have highlighted an increasing use of emergency services for non-serious pathologies and who could be assisted in any pre-hospital system, outpatient clinics, primary care centers or even via teleconsultation.
As for the waiting times in the guards it was indicated that there is a “on average 40 minutes”which rises to 101.9 minutes in the evening hours. While regarding medical resourcesit has been seen that in emergencies a average of 110 doctors by institution, accumulating some 370,600 hours worked.
The authors of the survey underline that “among the factors that have modified this scenario are impoverishment of doctor income per visitwhich has made the structure of private practice unsustainable, and the recent withdrawal of professionals from membership cards”, which is why patients replace outpatient consultations with visits to departments.
Likewise, it has also been mentioned disinterest of professionals due to working in intensive areas, loss of competitiveness of medical income and growth assault to healthcare personnel.
The use of telemedicine, the recovery of outpatient clinics and the development of educational campaigns to avoid the inappropriate use of on-call services were cited as possible solutions to this problem in the healthcare system.
AS/fl
#patients #emergency #room #true #emergency