Maui Memorial Medical Center in Wailuku, Hawaii, has seen a 25 percent increase in ER visits over the last five years, according to a Maui Now report.
From 2013 to 2014 alone, MMMC saw a 3.37 percent increase in the number of patients treated in its ER. Because of this dramatic increase, patients at the hospital are experiencing longer wait times.
In response to the increase in ER patients, MMMC is looking into how to improve patient flow to decease wait times. Additionally, hospital officials are encouraging would-be ER patients to seek advice from their primary care physicians during normal hours if the medical issue is not an emergency or does not need immediate attention.
"We do see a lot of patients that…could have been safely cared for in a primary care setting, or could have avoided the ED visit with proper and timely primary care," Julius Montehermoso, the ED nurse manager at the hospital, told Maui Now.