Dr. Evan P. Cohen with Up-To-Date Protocols in the Emergency Room

Emergency room operations have changed over the decades. No longer is the patient admitted into the hospital in order to complete a diagnostic assessment. In the past, physicians and surgeons would leave their normal duties to assist in the emergency rooms, learning as they went. Emergency care medicine has now become a field of medicine in its own right. In Episode Four of Stealth on Health, Dr. Evan P. Cohen explains the changes that have brought physicians whose specialty is emergency medicine to staff the majority of emergency rooms. 

The conditions brought about by the Coronavirus have caused a shift in priorities with emergency room care. The focus is on the rise in the number of emergent patients while those with lesser acuity have turned to medical assistance other than the emergency room. Stressors such as Coronavirus anxiety and separation from loved ones during the crisis are most impactful. Signs of stroke and heart attack, concerns for the potential rise in self-harm, suicide and the risk factors in the current environment are discussed along with the benefits of exercise and meditation.

Depression is the cause of over two-thirds of the reported suicides in the U.S. each year. Suicide rates have been rising in the US over the last two decades. It is within this context that Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) struck the US and blindsided emergency departments. 

Mario Nacinovich