UNDERSTANDING EMERGENCY CARE
Article by Ann E. Butenas
A look into how modern emergency departments work, when to seek treatment, and what patients should know about efficient, quality care.
Dr. Scott Corcoran
Emergency departments across the country face ongoing challenges with wait times and patient flow, but some facilities demonstrate how operational systems and specialized protocols can improve outcomes. Understanding how emergency care works (and when to seek it) can help patients make informed decisions during critical moments.
Dr. Scott Corcoran, Medical Director of the Emergency Department, Chief Medical Officer, and Stroke Medical Director at St. Joseph Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri, offers insight into how modern emergency departments function and what patients should know when deciding whether to seek emergency care.
When to Choose the ER Over Urgent Care
One of the most common questions patients face is whether their symptoms warrant an emergency room visit or if an urgent care clinic would suffice. According to Dr. Corcoran, certain symptoms should always prompt an ER visit: chest pain, severe abdominal pain, and neurological complaints such as sudden or severe headaches, weakness, or numbness. Emergency departments are better equipped to evaluate these potentially serious conditions.
“Our number one priority is to rule out the bad things and make sure you don’t have a life-threatening condition,” Dr. Corcoran explained. Emergency departments are designed to screen for medical emergencies, stabilize critical conditions, manage acute pain, and address symptoms like difficulty breathing or severe nausea.
Time-sensitive conditions like stroke require immediate intervention, as well. Emergency departments have a narrow window to intervene effectively, and delays in seeking care can significantly limit treatment options and affect recovery outcomes. Waiting too long with these symptoms can mean the difference between full recovery and permanent disability.
Diagnostic Capabilities in Emergency Settings
Modern emergency departments function as comprehensive diagnostic facilities. Standard capabilities typically include X-rays, ultrasound, and CT scans available around the clock. Many ER providers are now trained in bedside ultrasound for certain urgent conditions, allowing for rapid assessment without transporting patients to radiology.
Some hospitals have adopted telemedicine technology for specialized consultations. At St. Joseph Medical Center, for instance, any patient presenting with possible stroke symptoms receives immediate attention from both an ER provider and a neurologist via robotic telemedicine, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This approach brings subspecialty expertise to the bedside regardless of the time of day, ensuring that specialized care is available whenever it’s needed.
Understanding Wait Times and Performance
The national benchmark for emergency department length of stay is 150 minutes for discharged patients, meaning patients should ideally be evaluated, treated, and released within about two and a half hours. However, actual times vary widely depending on facility resources, staffing, patient volume, and case complexity.
Some facilities demonstrate that this benchmark is achievable. St. Joseph Medical Center, for example, has averaged approximately 125 minutes for the past two years, with an average wait time of nine minutes before patients see a provider. These metrics stand in contrast to the hours-long waits common at many facilities across the country, where patients may wait extended periods before even being seen.
Patient satisfaction has become an increasingly important metric in evaluating emergency care quality. These scores typically measure communication effectiveness, pain management, wait times, and overall patient experience. High-performing emergency departments often maintain patient experience scores in the top percentiles nationally.
The Emergency Care Team
Emergency departments are staffed by various healthcare professionals working collaboratively to provide care. Physicians may be board-certified in emergency medicine specifically, or board-eligible, meaning they’re within their first couple years out of residency and working toward certification. This distinction matters because emergency medicine is a distinct specialty requiring specific training. Some emergency departments employ board-certified physicians who aren’t specifically certified in emergency medicine.
Departments such as the ER at St. Joseph Medical Center also employ nurse practitioners and physician assistants with specialized emergency medicine training who work alongside physicians. The collaborative relationship between all team members is crucial in the emergency setting, where rapid communication and teamwork directly impact patient outcomes.
“I love working with our nurses,” Dr. Corcoran emphasized when discussing the team approach at St. Joseph. “The relationships between the doctors and the nurses create a very collaborative work environment where we’re always teaching each other and working together. We have each other’s backs, and it just makes it so much easier to take care of patients and provide the quality of care our patients deserve.”
How to Be Your Own Advocate
Healthcare providers rely on patients to communicate their concerns clearly. Dr. Corcoran offers straightforward advice for anyone visiting an emergency department: vocalize your concerns. Healthcare providers generally believe what patients tell them, but they can’t address concerns they don’t know about.
If something is bothering you during any part of the process, including admission, treatment, or discharge, don’t hesitate to speak up and advocate for yourself, or have family members do so on your behalf.
It’s important to understand what emergency departments can and cannot do. While they excel at identifying and treating acute conditions, they are not designed to solve medical mysteries that have persisted for months or to diagnose chronic conditions that have been developing over extended periods. The primary goal is to determine whether a patient is safe to go home or requires hospital admission for further care.
Understanding how emergency departments function and when to use them appropriately helps ensure you receive the right level of care at the right time. When minutes matter and symptoms are serious, emergency departments provide the comprehensive evaluation and immediate intervention that can make all the difference.
For more information on Dr. Scott Corcoran with Saint Joseph Medical Center call 816-942-4400 or visit stjosephkc.com. For additional information on emergency room statistics search cdc.gov.
