***To fix it, the hospitals need to set up triage nurses at the door. Do not let these people register or make it to the waiting room. If the problem is determined to be non-emergent, call their MD and make an appointment for them for when the MD can see them and send them on the way. Before they get in the hospital to even sit down.***
I hope you have presented your brilliant idea to the Hospital trustees;) Common sense and practical. If the patients don’t already have an MD - the hospital should have an ‘outpatient’ area staffed with PAs and rotating GPs.
The upswing in “urgent care centers’ is clearly the best way to solve Emergency Room abuse.
A CEO at a New England hospital stated a number of years ago that “85% of the trips to the Emergency Room really weren’t emergencies.” I’m not sure whether he was talking about his specific hospital or some sort of regional average, though...