New report offers methods to reduce ED overcrowding
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
May 21, 2008
The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) has issued a report that suggests ways to reduce emergency department (ED) overcrowding. ACEP formed a committee to address this problem in August 2007 by developing a list of low- or no-cost solutions to those patients who had been admitted but remained in the ED due to a lack of bed space in the hospital.
The following suggestions were given to alleviate this problem:
- Move emergency patients who have been admitted to the hospital out of the ED to inpatient areas, such as hallways, conference rooms, and solaria
- Coordinate the discharge of hospital patients before noon
- Coordinate the scheduling of elective patients and surgical patients
- Register patients at the bedside or eliminate triage altogether
- Cancel elective surgeries
- Involving a physician in the triage process
- Add observation areas
- Triage patients with nonurgent medical conditions to a separate area of the emergency department for care
To read the report, click here.
