Addressing emergency department crowding should be a top priority for hospital leaders and policymakers, according to an editorial in Annals of Emergency Medicine.
The editorial was written by Jesse M. Pines, MD, MBA, director of the Center for Health Care Quality and associate professor in the departments of emergency medicine and health policy at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Pines discusses a study published in Annals of Emergency Medicine that ties ED crowding to mortality in California hospitals. He examines why this study is the first published claims-based, U.S.-based health services research report showing a link between ED crowding and higher mortality despite the fact that there have been reports documenting ED crowding since the 1980s. He identifies several challenges in studying ED crowding and its effects, including the imperfect measurement tools of crowding and outcomes.
Dr. Pines suggests that the difficulty of measuring patient outcomes related to ED crowding has made crowding a "silent killer" that has not received as much attention as other causes of preventable deaths, such as smoking. To address the problem of ED crowding, Dr. Pines writes there should be further study on how hospitals adapt to ED crowding and that hospital leaders and policymakers should make "measuring and fixing crowding and holding hospitals accountable" a top priority. He also calls for a multidisciplinary approach to reduce ED and hospital crowding.
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The editorial was written by Jesse M. Pines, MD, MBA, director of the Center for Health Care Quality and associate professor in the departments of emergency medicine and health policy at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Dr. Pines discusses a study published in Annals of Emergency Medicine that ties ED crowding to mortality in California hospitals. He examines why this study is the first published claims-based, U.S.-based health services research report showing a link between ED crowding and higher mortality despite the fact that there have been reports documenting ED crowding since the 1980s. He identifies several challenges in studying ED crowding and its effects, including the imperfect measurement tools of crowding and outcomes.
Dr. Pines suggests that the difficulty of measuring patient outcomes related to ED crowding has made crowding a "silent killer" that has not received as much attention as other causes of preventable deaths, such as smoking. To address the problem of ED crowding, Dr. Pines writes there should be further study on how hospitals adapt to ED crowding and that hospital leaders and policymakers should make "measuring and fixing crowding and holding hospitals accountable" a top priority. He also calls for a multidisciplinary approach to reduce ED and hospital crowding.
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Crowded EDs Linked to More Patient Deaths, Study FindsReport: Washington State EDs Cut Medicaid Patients' "Unnecessary" ED Visits 23%
Rise in Flu Cases Contributes to ED Crowding