Emergency Room Delays

A recent editorial by the NewYork Times on Delays in Emergency Rooms points a growing problem in the US healthcare system. Due to uninsured patients and patients who lack primary care physicians coming to the emergency room for routine treatments like cough, cold or minor injuries, patients who are in a real emergency are being made to wait longer then is required. I,having worked in the ER for the last few years on patient throughput issues, know what impact ER overcrowding can have on the patients, physicians as well as other healthcare staff.