| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
The emergency room is a room, or group of rooms, within a hospital that is designed for the treatment of urgent and medical emergencies.
In the United States an emergency room is often referred to by the acronym ER. A hospital with an emergency room will have prominent signage stating EMERGENCY (often in white text on a red background) and an arrow to indicate where patients should proceed.
In Australia, this section of the hospital is called the casualty ward, casualty department or (slang) casualty.
In the United Kingdom and New Zealand this is usually called the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department. In the UK it is still frequently referred to by its old name, Casualty.
In Canada, a slang word for emergency room is "emerge".
By definition, an emergency room has an assigned doctor trained in emergency medicine on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
A smaller facility that may provide assistance in medical emergencies is known as a clinic. Larger communities often provide a drop-in clinic where people with medical problems that would not be considered serious enough to warrant an emergency room visit can be seen. These clinics often do not operate on a 24 hour basis, and are sometimes less expensive than going to the ER.
Entering patients are typically triaged by a nurse with training in emergency medicine. Patients are seen in order of medical urgency, not in order of arrival. There is usually one entrance with a lobby and a waiting room for less-urgent patients, and another entrance reserved for ambulances.
The services that are provided in an emergency room can range from simple x-rays and the setting of broken bones to those of a full-scale trauma centeremergency medicine A trauma center is a hospital equipped to perform as a casualty receiving station for the emergency medical services by providing the best possible medical care for traumatic injuries on a 24 hour, 7 days per week, 365 days per year bas. Emergency medical technicianAn emergency medical technician ('EMT') is an emergency responder trained to provide emergency medical services (EMS) to the critically ill and injured. Once thought of as an " ambulance driver or attendant," the modern EMT performs many more duties thans often work as support staff in emergency rooms under the supervision of nurses and doctors.
A patient's chances of survival are greatly improved if emergency care begins within one hour of an accident (such as a car accident) or onset of acute illness (such as a heart attackplaque builds up in the walls of blood vessels. Acute myocardial infarction AMI or MI , commonly known as heart attack is a serious, sudden heart condition characterized by varying degrees of chest pain, weakness, sweating, nausea, and vomiting, sometimes). This critical time frame is commonly known as the " Golden Hour".
Most emergency rooms in smaller hospitals are located near a helipadA helipad is a landing area for a helicopter. A helipad does not have fuel and service facilities for aircraft, as does a heliport, and does not maintain a full time air traffic controller. Helipads are common at hospitals and some businesses, so that hel which is used to transport a patient to a trauma centeremergency medicine A trauma center is a hospital equipped to perform as a casualty receiving station for the emergency medical services by providing the best possible medical care for traumatic injuries on a 24 hour, 7 days per week, 365 days per year bas. This inter-hospital transfer is often done when a patient requires advanced medical care unavailable at the local facility. In such cases the emergency room can only stabilize the patient for transport.
Emergency rooms around the world are increasingly being used for nonemergent care because of overburdened health care systems. Many people are forced to resort to attending the ER for minor injuries or illnesses if they occur late at night or at times when their doctor is closed. This is especially true for conditions which have severe symptoms, for example a child's ear infection.
See also: General practitioner