# 3713
Maryn McKenna writes features for CIDRAP News from time to time, and tonight she gives us a detailed look at a subject she knows all too well: the overcrowding and stresses that Emergency Rooms around the nation are operating under.
Maryn is working on a multi-year research project on this very subject.
Even in a `normal’ flu year, ERs are often stressed by flu patients, and sometimes have to `close’ to new patients until they can work through a surge.
Ambulances are sometimes diverted to other hospitals, and patients can wait hours (sometimes longer) on gurneys in hallways, or treatment bays, waiting for a bed.
This year, with a novel influenza virus poised to hit millions of Americans, the prospects of ERs being deluged with flu patients is very real.
And of course, a pandemic doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The same number of heart attack victims, strokes, and car accidents will come through the door as well.
Follow the link to read Maryn’s report in its entirety. Following this excerpt, I’ve listed some of today’s news brief headlines from CIDRAP’s website.
ER physicians fear possible fall flood of flu
Maryn McKenna
Contributing Writer
Sep 9, 2009 (CIDRAP News) – As children return to school and promptly become infected with H1N1 influenza, emergency-room (ER) physicians nationwide are becoming increasingly anxious over their ERs' capacity to deal with an influx of flu patients.
Many of the physicians work in emergency departments that experienced a spring onslaught of flu and fever cases when H1N1 first struck. In some cities, those cases were part of an early wave that receded; in others, the count of flu cases climbed and has kept climbing through summer months that usually are flu-free.
In either situation, the physicians say they are concerned that the expected fall increase in H1N1 flu—plus the annual arrival of seasonal flu—will significantly perturb a system that has little capacity to handle excess demand. And if H1N1 flu undergoes enough mutation or reassortment to add significant virulence to its notable contagiousness, they add, chaos could result.
And when it comes to putting together information on the H1N1 virus, you can’t beat CIDRAP overview. I refer to it often when I blog.
Novel H1N1 Influenza (Swine Flu)
Last updated Sep 8, 2009
Agent
Swine Influenza in Pigs
Swine-Origin Influenza in Humans: Historic Perspective
2009 Pandemic: Case Counts and Clinical Features
Pandemic Perspective
Laboratory Testing for the Novel H1N1 Virus in Humans
Community Mitigation Measures
Recommendations for Use of Influenza A H1N1 2009 Monovalent Vaccine
Vaccine Development
Use of Antiviral Agents
Infection Control Considerations
Food Safety Issues
References
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