From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Sun, 1/4/2026 12:44 AM, Axel wrote:   
   > Paul wrote:   
      
   >> The last time I was up at emerg, I was treated in a hallway, with   
   >> other patients standing by their gurney waiting their turn. This means   
   >> the entire emerg-core is now overrun with beds for patients. To make   
   >> more beds... out of nothingness. That's how a hospital operates above   
   >> capacity. You fill hallways. You fill treatment rooms. And so on.   
   >   
   > is this USA?   
      
   No, it's Canada.   
      
   Not all the evidence adds up.   
      
   As an example of "pressure", it is claimed adult patients are being transported   
   to the *childrens* hospital, because they have beds. That is one measure of   
   anecdotal evidence that there is a bed shortage. (That's just down the street   
   from a main hospital. A short trip for your transport.)   
      
   But other metrics, like number of ambulance sirens, number of seats   
   at Emerg that are empty, the level of those is "normal" and not   
   indicative of a bad flu season. If there are no "inputs at the front gate"   
   to the system, where is the pressure on the system coming from ? That's part   
   of it   
   that makes no sense. If there was real pressure, we would hear "wait times at X   
   are now 12 hours".   
      
   It is also possible the "bed thing" was based on a forward looking   
   projection of a "bad flu season", and they prepared for the rush in   
   advance. Normally in hospitals, "making new beds" is done 30 minutes   
   before they need a bed and not before. A portable curtain, a bed out of   
   storage,   
   job done.   
      
   One of the hospitals, they put up an inflatable structure   
   next to the hospital, for incoming COVID cases. When COVID rates   
   dropped... they never took the inflatable thing down and it is   
   still there. Clever. Any port in a storm. Their expansion story   
   should be a lot less service-affecting. And that's a main hospital.   
      
   And where I live, is not really all that bad. Some hospitals   
   other places in the country, the time to receive service in   
   Emerg is 24 hours. You have to be some kind of "endurance"   
   individual, to put up with that. That's a sign you are healthy,   
   if you last the entire 24 hours. But exponential service time   
   is pretty easy to understand. The diff between waiting 2 hours   
   and 24 hours, it doesn't take a lot of extra pressure to achieve   
   such a lofty situation.   
      
   Some of the emergency facilities, now they send a nurse around   
   to "check on people who have been there for a while". To detect   
   whether any of them have died.   
      
   They are trying a few things to pipeline the processing.   
   For example, I received an electrocardiogram, before I even got   
   to see the Emerg doctor. That saved time. The minute the doctor saw me,   
   he said "your heart has the same waveform as the last time we saw you".   
   It didn't take long to scoot me out of the building.   
      
   Previously, you would see the doctor, be sent for electrocardiogram,   
   then sit in yet another chair until the doctor was available again.   
      
   But most of the doctors time is spent dictating into a "computer bench".   
   It's ten minutes of documentation, for every two minutes of "hands on".   
   I know this, because the "computer bench" was only six feet   
   from my position in the hallway. I got to watch how the doctors   
   time was spent. The case management is integrated. About a week   
   later, my clinic calls... because they know I've been to the hospital.   
      
      Paul   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)