New guide

“People come to the emergency room with tick bites”

General practitioner Neshat Quitt and Gerhard Postl, Head of the Emergency Department at Graz II-West Regional Hospital, are committed to more effective patient management.

(Bild: Jauschowetz Christian/Christian Jauschowetz)

A new disease guide for patients as a recipe against overcrowded hospital outpatient departments was presented by the Medical Association on Monday. Politicians in Styria want nothing to do with a hospital fee to steer patients.

"Classic headaches, chronic back pain, an inconspicuous tick bite: the number of patients who seek help from us, even though they are anything but an emergency, is constantly increasing," says Gerhard Postl, Head of the Emergency Department at Graz II-West Regional Hospital.

It is not uncommon for this to happen out of ignorance: "Patients are always complaining about the long waiting times. When we talk to them, we find out that they don't even know that there are no polyclinics in Austria, unlike in their country of origin. Many also don't have a family doctor," explains the specialist in internal medicine.

96 flu cases in Styria
40,717 Styrians are currently registered as sick with the ÖGK. The majority of them are flat with a flu-like infection (12,616), 2175 are suffering from coronavirus and 96 cases of the real flu have recently been registered.

Presumably none of those affected belong in an emergency room. A new guide to the most common symptoms, which was jointly developed by the Medical Association and hospitals and presented to the public in Graz on Monday, is now intended to provide patients with health education. "If blood pressure values exceed 200 to 110 mmHg and last longer than 30 minutes, you must go to the emergency room," it states, among other things. "Patients often come to us with a one-off high blood pressure. When we measure it in hospital, the value has long since normalized. Someone like that doesn't belong in an emergency room either," Postl clarifies.

GPs as the right point of contact
Neshat Quitt, a general practitioner in Graz-Liebenau, emphasized that in most cases it would be better to go to the family doctor: "We know the patient's medical history and are aware of their social environment." As a statutory health insurance doctor, she is not allowed to refuse anyone from her district: "Not even in times of major waves of infection like the one we are currently experiencing."

ÖVP state councillor Karlheinz Kornhäusl once again rejected the introduction of an ambulance fee: "We are relying on a package of measures. I am sure that this will be effective."

 The new guidelines are available at https://www.leitfaden-krankheiten.at