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The Triage can help; but it is also on-going evaluation on another level of Triage.
The Triage can be set in different levels. Then the ER care will depend on the acuity from the Triage result.
Agree -- the ER should have a referral clinic where they can send people with non-life-threatening injuries and conditions. I've been in the ER far too often, where people come in with cuts that have already stopped bleeding, minor contusions, and the like. Heck, people go to the ER for the common cold.
The ER is not the same thing as a GP doctors office. Unfortunately, many people see it as such.
Duh, ER crowding doesn't slow down heart attack care! If you walk into an Emergency Room with an illness/injury that warrants ER care you get a nurse RIGHT AWAY. Anything less than that gets you a have a seat please. Ex. my asthma attack that left me blue and staggering to the point of collapse with every attempt to draw breath? Instant care. My one year old falling down the stairs and having a swollen lump the same size as his head? Instant care. Cousin having seizures from a tumble? Instant care. Another cousin who cut open his hand and it was not bleeding any longer and would have been manageable with butterfly bandages but he wanted stitches? Have a seat. Hypochondriac mother who had a cold and wanted an x-ray for no reason? Have a seat. ;)
The severity isn't always immediately apparent. I knew I had bronchitis from the start but something went wrong and there was something seriously wrong with me I knew nothing about. So I went to the ER. The nurse begins to chastise me for coming to the ER for a cold when I begin to start coughing and she shouts "Oh my God!" The next thing I know I'm on a gurney with a face mask. Turns out I had severe asthma and didn't know it.
Hope not-- when Obamacare kicks in and 10-20 million more suddenly pour into the nations Dr offices, I hope all pain ceases while people stand in lines and wait for months.
This is when it pays to live near a Trauma I hospital, not the band-aid hospitals most people end up at. Somewhere along the way, when they couldn't figure out what was wrong with me and labeled me crazy, I had a heart attack that damaged the bottom portion of my heart. Next time around, I'd rather die en route to a top hospital than put up with their inadequacies.
While this study is reassuring, patient overcrowding remains a critical issue for emergency departments. Hospitals must continue to focus on improving ED throughput. Recommended steps are 1) analyze patient flow to identify where bottlenecks are occurring, then make adjustments as necessary, and 2) verify investment in the right EHR system to ensure emergency clinicians find it easy to use and its design is specific to the ED's special workflow needs.