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Overcrowding in hospital emergency rooms may be worse in cities like Atlanta, where population growth has spiked, a new federal report shows.
And as the specter of terrorism attacks looms, the unresolved issue of chronically understaffed and overstuffed trauma centers may prove to be the Achilles' heel of the nation's health-care system, experts say.
If hospitals are having trouble handling the flow of emergency patients on a regular business day, how can they be expected to handle a sudden swarm of patients during a disaster, said Dr. Arthur Kellerman, chairman of the department of emergency medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine.
Kellerman has attempted repeatedly to call national attention to the plight of crammed emergency departments, which more often are having to temporarily shut their doors to patients when beds fill up.
During one recent shift at Grady Memorial Hospital, which houses North Georgia's only Level I trauma center, in the space of 10 minutes, seven critical patients from seven separate events were loaded onto ambulances and headed for the hospital, he said. All of Grady's resuscitation rooms were full, as were the operating bays, and 33 patients were already waiting for beds, Kellerman said. Reluctantly, Grady diverted ambulances away from the hospital for about 90 minutes while the emergency staff regrouped, he said.
"Frankly, the economics behind how hospitals are operated today present a disincentive for actually resolving this ongoing issue," Kellerman said.
Squeezed financially as reimbursements for services...