This is what many residents on ER shifts have known for years. During big sporting events, like NBA championship series, LA Lakers playoffs, that traffic in the ER and in urgent care clinics was unusually low. Now, this has been confirmed by a study recently published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. ED visits were unusually low in Boston during the Red Sox playoffs and World Series in 2004, and as TV ratings increased, visits stayed down.
Maybe what we need are more playoff series, ones that stretch thru the entire winter to keep folks who didn’t really need to come to the ER at home, instead of hospital waiting rooms!
Read the full storyat ESPN.
-Fool