What’s wrong with the emergency room?

1 What’s going on?

Due to the aging population, there are more and more elderly people and the chronically ill. There are fewer and fewer care providers available for all these people. This problem will only increase in the coming years. So how do you ensure that everyone who needs acute care gets it? That is what this report from the Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) is about.which describes various solutions.

2 What are the new proposals for emergency aid?

The NZa lists various options. The emergency rooms in sparsely populated areas see only a few patients during the night, while they are fully staffed with care providers and have a lot of expensive equipment. That’s a shame. For example, those posts could close at night, reducing the number of staff needed, but still remain open during the day. It is also possible to set up these emergency posts more simply, so that they only treat minor complaints. In the case of more complex complaints, the ambulance moves on to a hospital further away where complex care is provided.

3 The emergency post closed or only simple care – is that possible?

No, not at the moment. The government now requires that everyone in the Netherlands can be taken to emergency care within 45 minutes by ambulance. That rule guarantees speed, which in itself makes sense. But in fact, that rule is just guesswork, according to the NZa, because the 45-minute rule has never been scientifically substantiated. Is it too slow? Or can it be longer? And is that the best way to guarantee emergency care? Therefore, come up with a new rule that does offer guarantees for thorough emergency care, according to the NZa. Politicians must now make a decision about this, together with the professional associations of healthcare providers in emergency care.

4 What is good emergency care?

A major bottleneck is the waiting time at the emergency room. Once in the emergency room you sometimes have to wait half a day for a doctor. In fact, the average emergency aid station is designed for the most serious cases, so that less seriously ill people have to join the back of the queue. Things are different in the hospital network Sionsberg in Dokkum. There they have nurse specialists assess patients before they have been sent in by the general practitioner or the ambulance. In this way, everyone who arrives at the emergency clinic immediately receives the care they need and there are no waiting times. writes magazine Skipr.

As with Sionsberg, nationally, other types of emergency care providers are also looked at more closely than the A&E doctor. For example, the bachelor’s degree in medical care received recently authorized by the ministry to independently perform medical procedures in the emergency room.

Emergency care Haaglanden is a collaboration between two institutions for the elderly in and around The Hague. In an emergency, someone will come to your home quickly, so writes the Stentor† This is a fast and customer-friendly way of care, especially for the elderly who have a fall, or who have a catheter that comes loose.

5 Are these problems in emergency care new?

It is not news that emergency care can be improved. Three years ago, A&E doctor Menno Gaakeer explained in Plus Magazine why you sometimes have to wait so long for the A&E departments. For example, logistics in the hospital could be improved. People who have to go to a hospital bed from the Emergency Department cannot always go there quickly and that causes congestion in the A&E department. Read more here: Waiting hours in the emergency room.

And what do you think?

Politicians and interest groups of doctors and nurses are currently discussing emergency care. There are many interests involved. An emergency room can be an important source of income for a hospital. In the coming years we will have too few doctors and nurses to staff all those emergency rooms. But what do you think? What is important to you in emergency care? Share your idea or experience below.