It is estimated that more than 3,700 people with first-degree injuries each year are stuck in emergency units for two days before they are transferred to inpatient beds in hospitals, the Taiwan Health Reform Foundation said yesterday.
That figure is five times the time needed for an Australian hospital to make the same transfer, the foundation said.
“After cross-analyzing national emergency room monitoring data and National Health Insurance statistics, the foundation discovered three vital concerns stemming from the constant overcrowding in the emergency departments of most of the nation’s hospitals,” foundation chairperson Liu Mei-chun (劉梅君) told a press conference in Taipei.
Liu said the first problem was delays in getting inpatient beds, citing the foundation’s recent monitoring of 19 medical institutions between April 1 and Tuesday.
The survey found that the total number of patients kept waiting in emergency rooms and unable to transfer to an inpatient bed or waiting for admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) was 818 and 32 respectively.
Only 48 people in these cases were actually waiting to see an emergency room physician on average, Liu said.
Liu said the second problem is that patients with first-degree injuries are more likely to be stuck in emergency departments for more than two days than those with less serious conditions.
Emergency room patients are categorized into five degrees based on the severity of their conditions or injuries, with one being the most serious.
In 2012, 5.4 percent, or 3,742, of people with first-degree injuries waited more than 48 hours to be transferred to an inpatient bed, compared with 4 percent for those with second-degree injuries and 1.7 percent for those with third-degree ones, she said.
“It is worth noting that in Australia, it only takes about 9.5 hours for people with the same level of injuries to get a hospital bed,” she added.
Third problem is about 30 percent of patients who required ICU care could not get transferred within six hours, increasing their mortality rate from 8.4 percent to 10.7 percent and lengthening their average hospital stay, she said.
Foundation CEO Joanne Liu (劉淑瓊) said all three problems could be traced back to one factor: hospitals’ preference to treat patients with minor conditions due to staff shortages or those requiring expensive surgeries because they bring in more revenue.
She urged the government to include medical institutions’ ability to clear out patients with first-degree injuries in one day and admitting patients into ICUs within six hours into their routine evaluation.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Taiwan’s three major international carriers are increasing booking fees, with EVA Airways having already increased the charge to US$28 per flight segment from US$25, while China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines are set to follow suit. Booking fees are charged by airlines through a global distribution system (GDS) and passed on to passengers. Carriers that apply the fees include CAL, EVA, Starlux and Tigerair Taiwan. A GDS is a computerized network operated by a company that connects airlines with travel agents and ticketing platforms, allowing reservations to be made and processed in real time. Major players include Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport. EVA Air began
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
When Paraguayan opposition lawmaker Leidy Galeano returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of six Chinese cities late last year, she was convinced Paraguay risked missing out on major economic gains by sticking with longtime ally Taipei over Beijing — a message that participants on the trip heard repeatedly from Chinese officials. “Everything I saw there, I wanted for my country,” said Galeano, a member of the newly-formed Yo Creo party whose senior figures have spoken favorably about China. This trip and others like it — which people familiar with the visits said were at the invitation of the Chinese consulate in Sao Paulo
RSS