A different crowd, a different crowding level? The predefined thresholds of crowding scales may not be optimal for all Emergency Departments

Emergency department (ED) crowding has emerged in recent years as an international problem, with reports of ED crowding in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia (Lowthian et al., 2011; Pines et al., 2011). It is a major patient safety concern associated with poor patient outcomes, increased length of stay (LOS), and delays for triage and treatment (Carter et al., 2014; van der Linden et al., 2015). To decrease crowding and streamline patient flow, many initiatives have been described in the literature (Crawford et al., 2014; Kinsman et al., 2008).

Source: International Emergency Nursing - May 29, 2018 Category: Nursing Authors: M.Christien Van Der Linden, Merel Van Loon, Menno I. Gaakeer, John R. Richards, Robert W. Derlet, Naomi Van Der Linden Source Type: research