A system in crisis: exploring how recent emergency department closures influence potential access to emergency care in Ontario.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Access to emergency medical care in Ontario has been under stress, mainly due to a lack of human resources (staffing of nurses and doctors). Over the past year, several emergency departments in Ontario have closed. Some of these closures are nightly, while others have closed for weeks at a time, leaving Ontario residents without access to emergency medical care which can lead to poor or more severe outcomes. The purpose of this paper was to examine how closures of ED's in Ontario have influenced potential access to emergency medical care.

Methods

We performed population-level geographic information systems (GIS)-based analysis of potential access to ED hospitals in Ontario. The number of people with access to an ED was calculated when all ED's in Ontario were open

SUBMITTER: Larsen K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9888742 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature