Missouri warns against overusing emergency departments as locals say they are struggling to keep up

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Health care leaders are asking Missourians to only use emergency departments when it is an emergency in the few weeks as emergency rooms are overcrowded at most hospitals.

The Missouri Hospital Association and Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services encourage patients experiencing severe illness or a life-threatening condition to continue to use emergency resources.

Dr. Chase Ungs, medical director of the Emergency Department at SSM, said, "Our volumes are up probably a good 20 to 25% We've had a lot longer wait times than we typically do."

Dr. Robin Blount with Boone Health said there are certain situations where emergency care is necessary. "Chest pain, heart attack, stroke symptoms, severe abdominal pain, intestinal bleeding, things of that nature, that you really need to, you know, be seen urgently."

However, hospitals are urging patients seeking routine care, such as COVID-19 testing or things that can be handled at primary/urgent care facilities, to seek services elsewhere.

Dr. Blount said the pandemic has heightened the number of people that think they need emergency care. "They're absolutely overwhelmed by people that think they have COVID or may have COVID. We certainly receive an awful lot of COVID, but the vast, vast, vast majority of people that have COVID do not need emergency care."

MU Health Care's emergency physician Christoper Sampson said, "We're seeing lots of winter diseases, not just COVID-19. There's the flu, there's a lot of other winter viruses, so sometimes if they are just more minor complaints, they really can be seen at our other sites and urgent care or quick care."

With that being said, there are cases of COVID that require emergency care. "If you're somebody that has a lot of health risk factors, if you're heavy smoker, COPD, emphysema, you're treating really short of breath, you're running a fever, you're somebody that probably needs to be seen," Blount said.

Not only are more patients seeking emergency care, but hospitals are struggling to find enough staff to care for patients.

"There is just is a shortage of healthcare providers at all levels, nurses, techs, respiratory therapists," Sampson said.

Dr. Blount said Boone Health has a lot of staff out with COVID right now. "We do have staff out we also went into this Omicron with a nursing shortage and staff shortage anyway because so many people have gone to the traveling positions or even left health care."

Ungs said staffing is the biggest reason for SSM's sometimes delay inpatient care.

"Patients have been sitting in our ED (emergency department) for up to two days, waiting for a bed in the hospital. When a patient's in a bed in our ED that just means that's one more bed we can't use for department patients," Ungs said.

If you're unsure of the appropriate care level for your symptoms, visit the MU Health Care symptom checker.