{"id":443,"date":"2026-09-28T19:13:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T19:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/chase-dougherty\/?page_id=443"},"modified":"2026-10-07T18:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T18:39:13","slug":"the-system-behind-the-emergency-room","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/chase-dougherty\/the-system-behind-the-emergency-room\/","title":{"rendered":"ME #1"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The System Behind the Emergency Room<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A day I had been waiting for turned into one of the worst days imaginable because the first baseball game of my senior year became my first Emergency Room visit of my life. I was sliding into third base trying to steal the base, and I slid headfirst, but moments later I was walking off the field and across the street to the Emergency Room to get help for my shoulder. As I walked into the hospital, I was treated right away, taken back by the nurses and staff, and given ice for my shoulder while they figured out what had happened. I felt like a priority to the nurses and staff because they could see how stressed and worried, I was, and they did their best to keep me calm while providing the treatment I needed. This experience made me realize how healthcare workers make their patients a priority no matter who that patient is, and it showed me how important the Emergency Room is when someone is experiencing an unexpected injury that needs immediate attention and care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This image represents what my shoulder looked like internally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Emergency Room is a necessity for unexpected injuries and illnesses that require treatment as soon as possible, with the goal of preventing further damage or complications. Quick attention to patients allows for smoother and faster treatment, which can help build trust between patients and the hospital workers while also helping patients realize that they have a place they can go when an emergency happens. An Emergency Room can see patients with small problems or major injuries, but the doctors, nurses, and other workers are prepared to help with whatever is happening while keeping their patients calm and providing them with a feeling of safety. The Emergency Room is also important because people may arrive feeling scared, stressed, or unsure about what is happening, so having workers who communicate clearly and treat patients with care can make the experience easier for them. My experience showed me that the Emergency Room is more than just a place to receive medical treatment because it is a system where many people and resources work together to help patients when they need it most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is the Hospital\/Emergency Room that I went to to help with my shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Emergency Room System has many different stakeholders who all depend on it for different reasons. I am a stakeholder because I depended on the emergency room to receive quick treatment when I dislocated my shoulder, something that could not wait for a regular doctor\u2019s appointment. As a patient, I need the emergency room to have doctors, nurses, medical equipment, and other resources available so I can be treated as quickly and safely as possible. Other stakeholders might be doctors and nurses who provide care, medical technicians who transport patients, hospital staff who check patients in and manage information, and hospital administrators who manage the resources and policies that keep the emergency room operating. Patients\u2019 families and visitors are also stakeholders because they depend on the system for information about their loved ones and may have to wait while treatment is provided. My experience with the emergency room may be different from a doctor\u2019s or nurse\u2019s experience because I am focused on getting help and understanding what is happening to me, while medical employees are focused on treating multiple patients and keeping the entire emergency room running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. Savage is one of the Emergency Room members of Passavant Hospital in Jacksonville<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Emergency Room System has several loops where one event can affect another part of the system and cause the same pattern to continue. One loop that happens is a negative or balancing loop, when there are many patients waiting, which increases the workload for doctors and nurses, making it take longer to treat each patient and causing the waiting room to become even more crowded. Another loop could be a positive or reinforcing loop, which can happen when patients are treated quickly and discharged or moved to another part of the hospital, which creates more available space and allows the emergency room staff to focus on the patients who are still waiting. Communication is also part of a loop because when doctors, nurses, and patients communicate clearly, patients can be evaluated more efficiently, but poor communication can lead to confusion, repeated questions, and longer wait times. These loops show how different parts of the Emergency Room System are connected because changes in the number of patients, staff workload, treatment times, available space, and communication can affect one another and ultimately change how quickly a patient receives care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A negative loop of what the Emergency Room System might look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main drivers controlling the behavior of the Emergency Room System include the number of patients arriving, the number of doctors and nurses available, the amount of hospital space, the availability of medical equipment, and the level of a patients\u2019 conditions. The number of patients is a large driver because when more people arrive at the same time, the emergency room can become crowded and cause longer wait times for everyone. The number of doctors and nurses is also important because having enough staff allows patients to be evaluated, treated, and discharged more efficiently, while having fewer staff members can increase the workload and slow down the system. I would change the amount of staffing during the busiest times by having more doctors, nurses, and other medical staff available when patient numbers are expected to be higher.I think this change could help reduce waiting times, lower the amount of work for medical staff, and allow patients to receive care more quickly, while also helping the emergency room continue to function when there is an unexpected increase in patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A packed waiting could be a driver for the Emergency Room, this might be a bad driver for the Emergency Room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first walked into the Emergency Room after dislocating my shoulder, I thought the main problem was simply getting my injury treated so I could get back to playing baseball. After analyzing the Emergency Room System, I now understand that there is much more happening behind the scenes than just treating one patient. Doctors, nurses, hospital staff, equipment, patients, families, and resources must work together to keep the system running and provide care to everyone who needs it. My experience is also connected to the larger community because anyone can experience an unexpected injury or emergency and depend on the same system for help. Looking at the entire system matters because one change, such as having more patients or fewer staff members, can affect many other parts of the Emergency Room. Overall, my experience helped me see that the Emergency Room is not just a place for treating injuries, but a connected system that depends on many people working together to keep patients safe and cared for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The System Behind the Emergency Room A day I had been waiting for turned into one of the worst days imaginable because the first baseball game of my senior year became my first Emergency Room visit of my life. I was sliding into third base trying to steal the base, and I slid headfirst, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":468,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_sb_is_suggestion_mode":false,"_sb_show_suggestion_boards":false,"_sb_show_comment_boards":false,"_sb_suggestion_history":"","_sb_update_block_changes":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-443","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/chase-dougherty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/chase-dougherty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/chase-dougherty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/chase-dougherty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/chase-dougherty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/chase-dougherty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":481,"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/chase-dougherty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/443\/revisions\/481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eportfolio.siue.edu\/chase-dougherty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}