emergency room filtering, a solution to avoid overcrowding

It is 6 p.m., and the door is closed in front of the emergency department of the Marmande hospital center (Lot-et-Garonne). From now on, every evening, its access is regulated. Patients must explain their problem via a yellow telephone placed at the entrance to the hospital center. They are put in touch with the SAMU, which determines whether or not the patient should be treated by the emergency service.

A man comes alone to the emergency room in Marmande, after having opened his head slightly. Faced with the seriousness of his injury, he is taken care of by the service. A woman, on the other hand, is referred to the liberal doctor on duty by the SAMU regulation. Inside the emergency rooms, the service is full. This filtration prevents clogging. “It reassures us, it gives us more time with the patients”testifies the emergency physician Marie-Charlotte Button. In five months, the number of emergency patients has decreased by 20%.