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The holidays are a wonderful time of the year. People are stringing decorations, baking goodies, and enjoying the fresh snow-covered pines painting the outdoors with their beauty. Unfortunately, it's also the time for illnesses and accidents that can potentially lead to an emergency room visit.
There are many reasons why the ER department can fill up around the holidays. From people overindulging and drinking too much to getting the common cold and flu, the list of ailments and injuries run the gamut.
Below are some of the top reasons why your emergency room will fill up during the holidays and how ER scheduling software can help ensure your schedule is full of qualified physicians ready to care for the influx of patients.
1. Kitchen Injuries
It can be fun entertaining friends and family during the holidays. But, it can also be stressful and hectic. Things like sharp objects, stress, and high temperatures are all too common in the kitchen on the holidays and can easily lead to burns and cuts, both requiring immediate emergency care.
2. Flu
Sadly, some of our favorite holidays also concur with the flu season. Not surprisingly, ER traffic spikes during these times, particularly with children. With the extra traffic, you're going to need more doctors and nurses on board and this requires more time working the schedule out to accommodate for this anticipated influx of traffic. Physician scheduling software can help ensure there's adequate coverage at all times.
3. Consuming Too Much Food and Alcohol
From Christmas cookies, eggnog, roast beef and stuffing to champagne and cocktails, there's a whole lot of tasty treats for people to indulge in and potentially turning them into patients of your emergency department. While enjoying delicious food and beverages, there's always the risk of overdoing it. Consuming too much fatty, salty or sugar-laden foods is not only bad for the waistline, but it’s also bad for patients who already have heart problems, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
Also, serious vehicle accidents involving intoxicated drivers or alcohol-related slips and falls have too many times cut holiday celebrations short. In fact, alcohol-related accidents and injuries are a top reason during the holidays for ER visits and you can almost expect to have a full ER during this time, so you'll want to be sure your schedule is prepared with more doctors and nurses as well as potential call-in staff if needed.
4. Food Poisoning
Big meals can leave the door open for foodborne illnesses to creep in on the health of families. While people do their best to practice proper food handling and cooking methods, you can't always prevent food poisoning. Food is left out too long allowing bacteria to set up their home in the mashed potatoes. Even leftovers for the next few days can pose a threat causing people to come into the ER with upset stomachs.
Emergency medicine scheduling software distributes call shifts fairly. Holiday call shifts are especially important because of the uptick in emergencies. While nobody wants to work on the holidays, it’s a time of year when you need a very organized and full schedule. Shift scheduling software will ensure your call shifts are booked while distributing holiday shifts to physicians in a fair manner.
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