title: [Minor emergency cases in big hospitals].
abstract: Our hospitals are suffering from an increasing run of "minor emergency cases". Those are simple medical or surgical ailments that could be taken care of by a general practitioner's office in a competent and cost efficient way. Because of the ever growing problem of a shortage of general practitioners, those patients are directly going to the emergency room of our hospitals, where they are usually seen by a young and yet unexperienced doctor, who is ordering an expensive battery of tests even for minor troubles of his or her wellbeing. It was shown that emergency room crowding has a negative impact on the quality of patient care. The establishment of an office run by a general practitioner within the hospital emergency room may result in a certain relief of the situation.
authors.affiliation: Langenthal.
authors.forename: Rolf A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Streuli
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D000368:Aged; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000191:economics / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D013557:Switzerland; D019564:Unnecessary Procedures / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014600:Utilization Review; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*