ED overcrowding may lead to increased chance of adverse outcomes for chest pain patients
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
June 24, 2009
Patients visiting the emergency department (ED) with chest pain were more likely to suffer a poor outcome when that ED was overcrowded, reports MedPage Today. According to a study published recently in Academic Emergency Medicine, patients complaining of chest pain who were admitted to EDs that were at peak capacity were more likely to suffer an adverse cardiovascular outcome, such as cardiac arrest, delayed myocardial infarction, or death. Curiously, evidence showed that patients still received the appropriate treatment for chest pain, such as beta blockers and aspirin, despite the EDs being overcrowded.
