They are calling for a 15% increase in the number of beds to help solve the problem, following research that indicates hundreds die every year.

The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine is holding a conference in Melbourne on Friday to combat the crisis of overcrowding in hospital emergency departments, caused mainly by having too few inpatient beds.

An international review of studies on EDs, done for the college, finds that overcrowding and blocked access increases the risk of death 10 days later by 34%.

The review, by the University of New South Wales, calculates the excess death toll in Australia is similar to the annual road toll of about 1500.

Dr Tim Parke, clinical director of Auckland City Hospital's adults' emergency department, said yesterday the number of deaths in New Zealand probably matched its road toll too.

Typically, more than 400 people die on New Zealand roads each year.

Who was it said if we gave them a little more tax they'd "fix" health?

Who's taken a lot more tax and wasted it on bloating the bureaucracy rather than increasing front line health professionals?

The ideal occupancy of inpatient wards is 85%, but many New Zealand hospitals often run at more than 90%, especially in winter. Waikato Hospital reached 109% last Monday.

The college says the core problem is lack of beds and a 15% increase is needed in Australia and New Zealand.

"Nationally, we would hope occupancy is 85%." Dr Parke said, "And if that means more beds, then so be it."

. . . When hospitals are overcrowded, ED patients can wait many hours and, in one North Shore Hospital case reported last year by the The New Zealand Herald, four days, before being admitted to a ward or given surgery.

Overcrowded emergency departments lead to worse outcomes because of factors like delays in starting antibiotics for pneumonia, delayed heart-attack care and patients simply being overlooked because they are on a trolley in a corridor.

I wonder if over crowding also means people are sent home sooner than is optimal which can prolong recovery and lead to more re-admissions.

Early discharges also put pressure on over-stretched community services.

Existing means and tools for assessing brain function are, frankly, in a sad state of affairs, especially on the front lines. Current treatment options for patients with brain dysfunction are simply dismal.

A close friend recently suffered a fairly serious concussion by falling on ice, head first. What to do? Nothing. Literally - this is what her suggested treatment course was after an emergency department visit, despite serious persisting symptoms. That can’t be right. What kind of impact do these decisions have on our families everyday, especially on the sports field and on the battlefield?

With stroke, the consequences can be deadly. My father had an ischemic (blocking) stroke last summer. While everyone treating him was extra courteous, well-meaning and professional, we all basically watched him die slowly over a period of two months with no real tools to assess his brain state and absolutely nothing to treat it. The center treating him didn’t have a stroke tPA protocol in place, but even if it did he would have missed the “3-hour window”. This imaginary “3-hour window” is a depressing statistical outcome from a series of well-run Genentech trials, which has no physiological correlation to any one person – it’s just a line in the middle of a graph. But that’s the rule for you and me today. A minor stroke in a 35 year old athlete, or a major stroke in a 72 year old smoker – still, the “3-hour window”…that doesn’t make any sense. Stroke patients are suffering irreversible brain damage unnecessarily, under our watchful eye.

Speaking of depressing, a large study recently published showed that virtually all market-leading antidepressants are as good as placebos or sugar pills for all but the most pathologically depressed --- how is this possible?

I could go on for pages and pages, but everyone knows (especially healthcare providers, researchers, and patients) that brain treatment options are rare, and even more rarely used successfully, since very little hard data exists on their correlation with outcome.

Well, this sad state of affairs is not OK with us at BrainScope, and with others who are serious about brain health. We’ve set out to make it right. The first step is massive and universal access to digitally translated brain information, to see what’s going on, to guide current treatment modalities, and, most importantly, to enable the invention of new treatment options.

As an engineer, my job is to “build things and make them work” – and I have a whole lot of help from my fellow propellerheads at BrainScope and our partners. We can fix these problems – we have the technology!

As an entrepreneur, my job is to make BrainScope’s promise come true – hold the vision, get the most talented people on the bus, attract active investors to fuel progress, and tell the BrainScope story to patients, doctors, researchers, hospitals, partner companies, and everyone who will listen. I figure that if you’ve come into our space some way, you are fair game to enroll in our vision, and be asked to pitch in. There’s a lot to do here – we need you!

So, welcome to BrainWaves. Tune in regularly, comment, challenge, contribute.

Thanks,
Elvir