¶ … New York Times by Fred Brock, dated June 2, 2002 details a national medical problem that is having a concrete impact upon the practice of advanced nursing and health care, particularly in emergency rooms across the country. Due to the recent downturn of the American economy, many individuals before the age of 65 who do not yet qualify for Medicare and have no retiree health care benefits from their previous employers are retiring in greater and greater numbers. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, only 56.8% of these early retirees have coverage through their former employers.
From a nurse's perspective on a practical level, this means that more and more elderly individuals without coverage are utilizing the health care system. With the 'graying' of the population, the health care system is already dealing with an unprecedented influx of geriatric problems, from arthritis to Alzheimer's disease. The downturn of the economy means that more and more individuals are not only taking early retirement and do not have adequate health insurance but...
Nurses working in emergency rooms must balance the need to treat these elderly patients who are using emergency rooms for their primary care with their need to treat individuals who enter the emergency rooms for treatment for actual, life-threatening emergencies. This is inevitably placing a great certain strain upon the attending nurses in emergency rooms. Firstly, for the administrating nurse, the nurse in the emergency room must have to be very careful in delegating her available resources to treating the individuals who are using the ER for primary care and for those patients who need immediate attention.
Secondly, elderly patients often need additional instruction about how to obtain and administer their treatment. They are less likely to have the transportation as…
