Blog 18 - Answer 2

1. What is your EQ?
1. What is the best way to minimize Emergency Department overcrowding?
2. What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
1. The best way to minimize Emergency Department overcrowding is through the use of nurse hotlines.
3. What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)
1. The best way to minimize Emergency Department overcrowding is to improve patients' access to primary care. 
4. List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.
1. One of the biggest reasons people come to the ED is because they cannot make an appointment with their primary care physician. By improving access to these physicians, ED visits should be reduced. 
2. This affects the demand portion of the supply and demand issue which causes overcrowding.
3. This is a valid answer because of the input-output-throughput model which demonstrates how patients flow through the hospital and the ED. 
5. What printed source best supports your answer?
1. Piehl, Mark D., Conrad J. Clemens, and Jerry D. Joines. ""Narrowing the Gap"" Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 154.8 (2000): 791. Web. 10 Feb. 2016. <http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=350544>.
6. What other source supports your answer?
1. During my third interview I asked my interviewee what he thought the answer to my essential question was and he strongly believed in my second answer. 
7. Tie this together with a concluding thought.
1. This second answer is similar to the first in that it affects the input of the hospital/ED. Input is basically how many people show up wanting treatment. By improving the availability of primary care, the number of non-urgent visits will be reduced because patients can treat it with their normal doctor. By seeing a primary care physician instead of a doctor in the ED, patients can save money, have better follow up care, and develop a stronger relationship with their doctor.