He also said one of his paramedic crews had to intubate a patient in an ER because no ER staff was available to do the job. National Problem Flu traditionally takes the rap for overcrowding in the nation's emergency rooms every winter. Today the practice has become routine. The search for an open emergency room means that patients must travel farther and wait longer for care. For example, on any given day, three Boston hospitals may be on diversion status, according to a recent New York Times article.
Patients tend to end up there because there is no place else in the hospital to go.
Expansion The air over Las Vegas has not harbored many flu viruses this year, said Skeen, whose company performs five million paramedic transports a year. It's still not enough. It gets overwhelming when we can't get people to hospital beds, and they end up stuck in the ER waiting for a spot. When five of the seven go on divert, we automatically go into a rotation and they have to take patients whether they want to or not. We may be traveling clear across the community with a patient.