BACKGROUND The overcrowded hospital is an unsafe one. Overcrowding the emergency department (ED) results in increased patient suffering, prolonged waiting time, deteriorating level of service, and on occasion, a worsened medical condition or even death. OBJECTIVES This study proposes a strategy to overcome ED overcrowding. MATERIALS AND METHODS The proportion of acute area admitted patients...

BACKGROUND In Australia approximately 25% of Emergency Department (ED) attendances are via ambulance. ED overcrowding in Australia, as in many countries, is common. Measures to reduce overcrowding include the provision of enhanced timely primary care in the community for appropriate low risk injury and illness. Therefore paramedic assessment and referral to a community home hospital service, in...

TO THE EDITOR: The increasing overcrowding on public transport, particularly trains, in many Australian cities makes for considerable discomfort. As the problem deteriorates, concerns about attributable illness and even death have been raised. 1 Overcrowding on public transport also contributes to the spread of respiratory diseases such as influenza (pandemic or otherwise). 2 The risk of contra...

Recent decades have seen the global emergence of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), causing substantial health and economic burdens on patients and health-care systems. This epidemic has occurred at the same time that policies promoting higher patient throughput in hospitals have led to many services operating at, or near, full capacity. A result has been limited ability to scal...

Introduction: Emergency department (ED) crowding is a significant problem in Canada and has been associated with decreased quality of care in general and pediatric emergency departments (PEDs). Although boarding of admitted patients in the ED is the main contributor to adult ED overcrowding, factors involved in PED crowding may be different. The objective of this study was to report the trend i...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the efficacy of capacity alert calls in reducing acute hospital overcrowding through addressing rising occupancy, high patient throughput and increased access block. METHODS Retrospective analysis of 24 months of in-patient, emergency department, and capacity alert call log data from a large metropolitan public hospital in Australia. The analysis explored statistical ...

background: the overcrowded hospital is an unsafe one. overcrowding the emergency department (ed) results in increased patient suffering, prolonged waiting time, deteriorating level of service, and on occasion, a worsened medical condition or even death. objectives: this study proposes a strategy to overcome ed overcrowding. materials and methods: the proportion of acute area admitted patients ...