title: Medical care capacity for influenza outbreaks, Los Angeles.
abstract: In December 1997, media reported hospital overcrowding and "the worst [flu epidemic] in the past two decades" in Los Angeles County (LAC). We found that rates of pneumonia and influenza deaths, hospitalizations, and claims were substantially higher for the 1997-98 influenza season than the previous six seasons. Hours of emergency medical services (EMS) diversion (when emergency departments could not receive incoming patients) peaked during the influenza seasons studied; the number of EMS diversion hours per season also increased during the seasons 1993-94 to 1997-98, suggesting a decrease in medical care capacity during influenza seasons. Over the seven influenza seasons studied, the number of licensed beds decreased 12%, while the LAC population increased 5%. Our findings suggest that the capacity of health-care systems to handle patient visits during influenza seasons is diminishing.
authors.affiliation: California Department of Health Services, Richmond, California 94804, USA. cglaser@dhs.ca.gov
authors.forename: Carol A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Glaser
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gilliam
authors.forename: William W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Dassey
authors.forename: Stephen H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Waterman
authors.forename: Mitchell
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saruwatari
authors.forename: Stanley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shapiro
authors.forename: Keiji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukuda
mesh_terms: D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D005260:Female; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015141:Los Angeles / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D010360:Patient Transfer / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011014:Pneumonia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012621:Seasons