Hospital overcrowding: Roll up the rim!

Blog Author: David R. Richardson, MD

Today’s news is full of stories about Royal Columbian Hospital’s emergency room overcrowding problems. Distraught family members are in front of cameras recounting how their elderly relatives were cared for in the hospital’s Tim Horton’s coffee shop, which had been converted in to an impromptu emergency ward. Rightfully, they were lamenting how long-term taxpayers could end up being cared for in this way.

In case anyone thinks this is an isolated problem they should visit the other hospital ERs in the Fraser Health Region. I would guess that my hospital runs at close to 100% capacity.

Our ER admission board is covered in red most of the winter. In case you think we’re really sloppy, admitted patients are written in red ink. The solution is not to hire more utilization staff or put up signs around the hospital stating the obvious (that we are full and need more beds so please discharge your patients who are in hospital unnecessarily).

A more useful endeavor might be to look at how the population of the Fraser Valley has grown and how are number of emergency beds hasn’t.

Patients cared for in the Tim Horton’s at Royal Columbian Hospital probably received better food and coffee. How about a new campaign: “Roll up the rim and win a bed in the hospital”?

Read the news story in The Province