In the News--Do you have a Primary care (family doctor) physician?

A study conducted at Brown University in Rhode Island found that people who use emergency rooms as their primary medical care miss out.  What they miss is their own primary care doctor who can instruct and guide them to a healthy lifestyle.  Emergency rooms are designed for “emergencies”  When a person walks into an emergency room talking about “pressure in my chest” and being “short of breath,” the staff begins immediately to assess that person for a heart attack and provide life-saving interventions.   Emergency rooms across America do amazing work saving the lives of people involved in car wrecks and traumas.  Emergency rooms were not set up to treat chronic illness; they’ve worked to adapt to this need but that’s not their original purpose. 

This study analyzed 22,000 records over a period of 1999 to 2008.  Participants answered questions such as where they went for healthcare, what chronic health conditions they lived with and whether they had been diagnosed as having a stroke or heart attack.  The participants were checked for chronic health conditions such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure.  The study found that people who used the emergency rooms as their main medical care had high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels at a similar rate as everyone else, but the ER patients were less likely to know they had high blood pressure and/or high cholesterol (chronic health conditions) when compared to people who have a primary care doctor or health care clinic.

One conclusion from the research recognized the need for comprehensive primary care for Americans.