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Emergency department patients who stay more than 6 hours contribute to crowding.
J Emerg Med. 2010 Jul; 39(1):105-12.JE

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Admitted and discharged patients with prolonged emergency department (ED) stays may contribute to crowding by utilizing beds and staff time that would otherwise be used for new patients.

OBJECTIVES

To describe patients who stay > 6 h in the ED and determine their association with measures of crowding.

METHODS

This was a retrospective, observational study carried out over 1 year at a single, urban, academic ED.

RESULTS

Of the 96,562 patients seen, 16,017 (17%) stayed > 6 h (51% admitted). When there was at least one patient staying > 6 h, 60% of the time there was at least one additional patient in the waiting room who could not be placed in an ED bed because none was open. The walk-out rate was 0.34 patients/hour when there were no patients staying in the ED > 6 h, vs. 0.77 patients/hour walking out when there were patients staying > 6 h in the ED (p < 0.001). When the ED contained more than 3 patients staying > 6 h, a trend was noted between increasing numbers of patients staying in the ED > 6 h and the percentage of time the ED was on ambulance diversion (p = 0.011).

CONCLUSION

In our ED, having both admitted and discharged patients staying > 6 h is associated with crowding.

Links

Publisher Full Text (DOI)

Authors+Show Affiliations

Henneman PL
Department of Emergency Medicine, Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Massachusetts 01199, USA.
Nathanson BH
No affiliation info available
Li H
No affiliation info available
Smithline HA
No affiliation info available
Blank FS
No affiliation info available
Santoro JP
No affiliation info available
Maynard AM
No affiliation info available
Provost DA
No affiliation info available
Henneman EA
No affiliation info available

MeSH

Academic Medical CentersAmbulancesCrowdingEmergency Service, HospitalHumansLength of StayMassachusettsPatient AdmissionPatient DischargeRetrospective Studies

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

19157757

Citation

Henneman, Philip L., et al. "Emergency Department Patients Who Stay More Than 6 Hours Contribute to Crowding." The Journal of Emergency Medicine, vol. 39, no. 1, 2010, pp. 105-12.
Henneman PL, Nathanson BH, Li H, et al. Emergency department patients who stay more than 6 hours contribute to crowding. J Emerg Med. 2010;39(1):105-12.
Henneman, P. L., Nathanson, B. H., Li, H., Smithline, H. A., Blank, F. S., Santoro, J. P., Maynard, A. M., Provost, D. A., & Henneman, E. A. (2010). Emergency department patients who stay more than 6 hours contribute to crowding. The Journal of Emergency Medicine, 39(1), 105-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jemermed.2008.08.018
Henneman PL, et al. Emergency Department Patients Who Stay More Than 6 Hours Contribute to Crowding. J Emerg Med. 2010;39(1):105-12. PubMed PMID: 19157757.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Emergency department patients who stay more than 6 hours contribute to crowding. AU - Henneman,Philip L, AU - Nathanson,Brian H, AU - Li,Haiping, AU - Smithline,Howard A, AU - Blank,Fidela S J, AU - Santoro,John P, AU - Maynard,Ann M, AU - Provost,Deborah A, AU - Henneman,Elizabeth A, Y1 - 2009/01/20/ PY - 2008/04/01/received PY - 2008/07/08/revised PY - 2008/08/07/accepted PY - 2009/1/23/entrez PY - 2009/1/23/pubmed PY - 2010/10/27/medline SP - 105 EP - 12 JF - The Journal of emergency medicine JO - J Emerg Med VL - 39 IS - 1 N2 - BACKGROUND: Admitted and discharged patients with prolonged emergency department (ED) stays may contribute to crowding by utilizing beds and staff time that would otherwise be used for new patients. OBJECTIVES: To describe patients who stay > 6 h in the ED and determine their association with measures of crowding. METHODS: This was a retrospective, observational study carried out over 1 year at a single, urban, academic ED. RESULTS: Of the 96,562 patients seen, 16,017 (17%) stayed > 6 h (51% admitted). When there was at least one patient staying > 6 h, 60% of the time there was at least one additional patient in the waiting room who could not be placed in an ED bed because none was open. The walk-out rate was 0.34 patients/hour when there were no patients staying in the ED > 6 h, vs. 0.77 patients/hour walking out when there were patients staying > 6 h in the ED (p < 0.001). When the ED contained more than 3 patients staying > 6 h, a trend was noted between increasing numbers of patients staying in the ED > 6 h and the percentage of time the ED was on ambulance diversion (p = 0.011). CONCLUSION: In our ED, having both admitted and discharged patients staying > 6 h is associated with crowding. SN - 0736-4679 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/19157757/Emergency_department_patients_who_stay_more_than_6_hours_contribute_to_crowding_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -