NIt is not necessary to attend a Medicine or Nursing course to know that stress causes the heart rate to increase, a symptom that can be found both in health professionals who work in hospital emergency rooms and in patients who seek them. This is no exception: every year the National Health Service (SNS) records more than six million emergency episodes. According to the most recent data from Health at a Glance, in 2022 Portugal had 67 emergency episodes per 100 thousand inhabitants, more than double the average value of OECD countries (27 per 100 thousand). “We have to reduce the emergencies of differentiated first and second level hospitals by half. Portugal cannot have more than three million emergency episodes per year,” argues Adalberto Campos Fernandes.
