The on-demand generation have already changed the food industry being the largest users of meal delivery services. Now research by Kaiser Family Foundation has found that just under half of 18 to 29 years old Americans surveyed do not have a primary care provider.
For the generation which values convenience, getting in a car or taking public transport to go and spend time in a waiting room is not appealing. Many adults in this age group opt instead for finding a walk-in clinic and in the United States this means paying extra for an urgent consult, a cheaper option than visiting a hospital emergency room when unwell after hours.
In the US free-standing urgent care centres are being established, as well as online telemedicine sites to meet the demand for convenience but emergency departments around the globe highlight a lack of resources. A report on international emergency nursing published in late 2016 found that those under the age of 25 had a disproportionality high attendance rate for non-urgent conditions.
Are millennials contributing to overcrowding of emergency departments in Australia?
Australians presenting to emergency departments in hospitals are experiencing increased waiting times and are at increased risk of medical error or death due to overcrowding and stressed staff. In Australian public hospitals, all people presenting to emergency departments are triaged and then treated at no cost, even those presenting with minor injuries and ailments. An increasing number of patients are stating that it is not unusual to see ambulances banked in the emergency bay and patients waiting on stretchers in corridors. The Northern Territory (NT), Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and South Australia are among those experiencing the worst overcrowding with patients sometimes waiting 24 hours to be treated.
The number of ED attendances nationally increased by 2.5 percent each year between 2012/13 and 2016/17. Furthermore it is estimated that 40 percent of ED presentations in Australia are non-urgent. Research shows that an increasing number of patients over the age of 70 are presenting to the ED, often repeatedly, although only 21 percent of emergency presentations were for people aged over 65 according to emergency department care statistics for 2016/17 published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
While an unwillingness to visit a GP because it is inconvenient has not been established as a cause of overcrowding in Australian hospital emergency departments, a lack of GPs has certainly been recognised as such. In Western Australia, a Department of Health report showed a shortfall of 534 GPs in 2015 with the shortfall predicted to reach 774 by 2021, largely due to around 500 metropolitan and 134 GPs reaching retirement age. The median age of GPs in Western Australia is 55 and the state currently has a ratio of 81.5 GP per 100,000 which is significantly less than the national average of 96.8.
The Department of Health report showed that the shortage of GPs led to 337,224 potentially avoidable presentation at emergency departments in WA hospitals.
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