American emergency rooms are not only becoming more crowded, they’re making patients wait longer than ever for medical care. According to experts, there are several reasons why the average wait time in hospital emergency rooms across the country can exceed four hours. From understaffing to an increase in patients to boarding problems, ERs and patients alike are suffering the consequences. But some hospital administrators are offering suggestions on how to correct these increasingly dangerous problems.

Because many health care facilities have closed due to lack of funding, open emergency rooms are becoming very crowded. Studies have shown that the number of patient visits is nearly 120 million per year, up from 110 million visits in 2004. All patients are triaged upon arrival and divided into priority categories based on the severity of their conditions or injuries. Patients considered seriously ill should be seen first and within fourteen minutes of arrival. Unfortunately, most are being seen in twice that time at 37 minutes. And once these critically ill patients are admitted, they are kept in emergency room beds for longer periods of time since other hospitals units also have more patients than bed available. This leads to a problem called boarding, which leaves no room for additional patients to be admitted into the ER and only increased the wait time further. To combat this problem, hospitals are encouraging emergency room staff to cease boarding patients in the ER. Instead, they should be moved to the appropriate floor or unit for additional care, thereby spreading the number of patients out more evenly.

Another cause of increased ER wait times is physician shortages. Many emergency physicians are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but when ERs become too busy, back up is needed. This back up is provided by specialists like neurosurgeons, cardiologists and other professionals that are “on call,” meaning they must be notified and patients have to wait for their arrival. Unfortunately, the number of specialists providing “on call” services is dropping due to lack of adequate pay, increased insurance premiums and other factors. Fewer medical professionals leads to longer wait times for patients. To combat this problem, hospitals are attempting to hire more emergency room staff and patient care professionals in order to facilitate communication between providers and patients.

Hopefully, hospitals can continue to address the needs of emergency room professionals and patients and to improve conditions and wait times there. Attending patients’ medical needs quickly and effectively should be the goal of every hospital in America.