Work Abuse on Nurses: Seven Mondays in a Week: The Consequences of Society’s Decline in Civility
Would you look forward to work each day if you knew there was a possibility you would be verbally or physically abused? Emergency departments are experiencing an increase in use by the public. Hospitals are unable to keep up. An analysis of this use points to one unintended consequence of a non universal private health care system. The emergency department of a hospital is the only location in an overburdened health care system where any patient who shows up must be treated regardless of ability to pay. With state facilities and programs for mentally ill citizens, and those suffering drug addiction being eliminated these patients often end up in emergency wards. Visits to emergency departments(ED) for alcohol or drug related incidents are on the rise. Emergency departments are often overcrowded. Overcrowding is defined as all beds in use and the waiting room full for more than 6 hours a day, patients placed in halls, and seriously ill patients having to wait more than 1 hour to see...