Authors

  1. van Rijswijk, Lia MSN, RN, CWCN

Article Content

Diana Mason's editorial ("EDs in Crisis," January) is a reminder that we need to look upstream and explore new possibilities. The same issue of AJN discusses the increase in the number of uninsured and underinsured people and suggests that it may be a cause of the current ED crisis that continues to be ignored by our elected officials. But there is another important trend that deserves attention. Depending on health care providers' office hours, patients are increasingly unable to receive urgent nonemergency care in the office or even advice over the telephone. Instead, they are told to go to the ED. No one can expect health care providers to be available seven days a week; however, in many industrialized countries, providers cover for each other, thus offering patient access for nonemergency situations. While we must certainly address the crisis in the ED itself, flooding will continue unless we look for other solutions.

 

Lia van Rijswijk, MSN, RN, CWCN

 

Newtown, PA