Waiting Room medicine

Letters

CJEM 2004;6(2):78

To the Editor: Winnipeg newspapers have recently picked up the battlecry that the current emergency care system does not work. It is now unacceptable and dangerous that patients wait hours to be seen and treated. In response, the Manitoba government has decided to do a 1-week audit of selected emergency charts to see what the problem is. It seems they have forgotten to talk to the frontline workers, who might have an idea about what the major issues are.

The primary issue, which has been documented extensively in the emergency medicine and health services literature, is outflow block and the resulting lack of available stretchers. The simple fact is, most emergency stretchers are filled with patients already admitted to other services and waiting for an inpatient bed.

As the government has promised the public, the days of Hallway Medicine are over. Fantastic! Let's move ahead into the new world of Waiting Room Medicine.

Lisa Bryski, MD
University of Manitoba
bryskilm@cc.UManitoba.ca