Emergency department overcrowding and access block

Emergency department overcrowding and access block.

Emergency Department overcrowding (EDOC) is defined as a situation where the demand for emergency services exceeds the ability of an emergency department (ED) to provide quality care within appropriate time frames. ED overcrowding has been a key issue in Emergency Medicine in Canada for more than 20 years. Despite increased political, administrative, and public awareness, EDOC situations contin...

Access block and emergency department overcrowding

Iranian emergency department overcrowding

Today, overcrowding in emergencies has turned out to be one of the biggest problems in health systems around the world. In this case, a short and an accessible solution could not be reached. In fact, several basic reasons play a role in such a problem, and eliminating each of them would require long-term planning. This issue not only has a negative effect on the quality of services presented to...

Access block causes emergency department overcrowding and ambulance diversion in Perth, Western Australia.

OBJECTIVE Access block refers to the situation where patients in the emergency department (ED) requiring inpatient care are unable to gain access to appropriate hospital beds within a reasonable time frame. We systematically evaluated the relationship between access block, ED overcrowding, ambulance diversion, and ED activity. METHODS This was a retrospective analysis of data from the Emergen...

Access block and overcrowding in emergency departments: an empirical analysis.

OBJECTIVE To quantify the determinants of the duration of time spent in an emergency department (ED) for patients who need admission to hospital. METHODS A retrospective analysis of a year of administrative data on all patients presenting to 38 public hospital EDs in Victoria, Australia in 2005/2006. Individual administrative data on patient care time, defined as the time in the ED from first...