Emergency rooms are under siege, both in the North and the South. The increase in influenza and Covid cases has overwhelmed the emergency system in various areas, and thousands of patients waiting for hospitalization are forced to wait for hours or days in increasingly crowded emergency rooms (ERs).
Hospital beds are now in short supply, and the worrying phenomenon of "stretcher-towns" has resurfaced: emergency ambulances blocked in front of hospitals with their stretchers used as temporary beds for the sick.
Doctors from the 118 emergency medical service and the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine (SIMEU) are describing a critical situation during these Christmas holidays. Forced to work non-stop shifts to deal with the emergency, most consider vacation time "a luxury."
A NapoliCardarelli Hospital is under pressure: on January 1st alone, there were 209 admissions to the Emergency Room, 16 of which were red codes.
The situation is similar at Santobono, where many children are hospitalized, some with early signs of pneumonia. At the Naples 1 Local Health Authority, they were forced to recall doctors from vacation.
206 people have sought treatment at the emergency room at the Ospedale del Mare in Naples. From 8:00 a.m. yesterday morning—according to the ASL Napoli 1, which manages the hospital—to 2:30 p.m. today, of the 206 residents who arrived at the emergency room, 16 have red codes and 86 have yellow codes.
Some people who had suffered firework burns have been admitted to the hospital, but most are elderly or frail patients who have contracted the severe flu of this period or Covid. The hospital is fully operational, and there are currently twenty doctors short of staff in the emergency room, making the workload even more stressful for the doctors who are working.
Hospitals managed by the ASL Napoli 2 in the province of Naples are also experiencing high attendance, with many admissions to the facilities in Pozzuoli, Giugliano, Frattamaggiore, and Ischia involving frail or elderly patients with severe flu. The Local Health Authority Napoli 2 Nord emphasizes that in these first few days of 2024—and compared to the previous month—there has been an increase in emergency room visits to local hospitals for seasonal fevers, influenza, and COVID-19.
Specifically, a 45% increase in admissions was recorded, with a higher incidence among vulnerable patients, especially the elderly and those with comorbidities. The emergency room admissions system has responded, and is responding, adequately without any particular problems.
EDITORIAL TEAM
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