‘Care in a chair’ – the impact of an overcrowded Emergency Department on the time to treatment and length of stay of self-presenting patients with abdominal pain

Emergency Department (ED) overcrowding has been documented in the literature for over 20 years, and has been identified as a worldwide problem (Gilligan et al., 2015; Hatherley et al., 2015; Ye et al., 2012). Overcrowding can be described as a situation where the number of patients waiting to be seen, undergoing assessment or waiting for discharge from the ED exceeds the physical or staffing capacity of the ED (Cameron et al., 2009; Forero et al., 2011). The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) reported that presentations to ED increased by an average of 4.3% per year, while the number of hospital beds decreased by one third between 1983 and 2010 (Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, 2014).
Source: International Emergency Nursing - Category: Nursing Authors: Source Type: research