Analysis of current situation of Chinese health care reform by studying emergency overcrowding in a typical Shanghai hospital

摘要

The health care system is largely influenced by the finical support and economic prosperity of the government. Chinese economic development offers a quality and breadth of coverage not found in any other country; thus, Chinese health care system gradually displays its specific characteristics due to its socioeconomic patterns, historical background, and cultural origins [1-3]. Emergency department '(ED) is regarded as a gatekeeper of hospital [4]. Emergency department is also a representative profile of solid resources and perfect management in a hospital level [5]. Thus, ED acts as a bridge connecting hospital resource and social demand as well as the quality of hospital care and medical care system. However, overcrowding is commonly encountered in ED and indicates a hospital-wide intractable issue comprising the challenges all over the world [6,7]. Emergency department overcrowding is recognized to contribute to poor medical care and implicates the existence of irrational disciplines. It also impedes the implement of out-of-hospital strategy [8-10]. Therefore, ED overcrowding is not only a hospital issue but a universal administrative problems of health care system [11].