26 Percentage increase in
U.S. emergency room (ER) visits during the 1993–2003 period, compared
to a 12.5% increase in the U.S. population during
that time
15 Percentage decrease in the number of
U.S. ERs during that period (from 4,791 to 4,073)
1,440 Average number of ambulances each
day turned away from an ER at maximum capacity
65 Short-term survival rate as a percentage,
following cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the TV show ER during the 1994–95
season; the actual rate is anywhere from 7% to 15%
3.2 Average time, in hours, a patient
spends in the ER, 46.5 minutes of which are spent waiting
1.9 Millions of times ER patients
left without being treated in 2003—1.7% of all ER visits
14.1 Percentage of total visits to
ERs, in 2003, made by uninsured persons
5 Percentage of funding that
emergency medical services received from the Bioterrorism Hospital Preparedness
Program in 2002; the funding, which typically ranged from $5,000 to $10,000
per hospital, is not enough to fully equip one intensive care room 
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