The Effect of Emergency Department Crowding on Length of Stay and Medication Treatment Times in Discharged Patients With Acute Asthma

Prolonged waiting times are associated with worse patient experience in patients discharged from the emergency department (ED). However, it is unclear which component of the waiting times is most impactful to the patient experience and the impact on hospitalized patients. We performed a retrospective analysis of ED patients between July 2018 and March 30, 2020. In all, 3278 patients were included: 1477 patients were discharged from the ED, and 1680 were admitted. Discharged patients had a longer door-to-first provider and door-to-doctor time, but a shorter doctor-to-disposition, disposition-to-departure, and total ED time when compared to admitted patients. Some, but not all, components of waiting times were significantly higher in patients with suboptimal experience (<100th percentile). Prolonged door-to-doctor time was significantly associated with worse patient experience in discharged patients and in patients with hospital length of stay ≤4 days. Prolonged ED waiting times were significantly associated with worse patient experience in patients who were discharged from the ED and in inpatients with short length of stay. Door-to-doctor time seems to have the highest impact on the patient’s experience of these 2 groups.

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Emergency department crowding and length of stay before and after an increased catchment area

BMC Health Services Research ◽

10.1186/s12913-019-4342-4 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ida Mentzoni ◽

Stig Tore Bogstrand ◽

Kashif Waqar Faiz

Keyword(s):

Emergency Department ◽

Length Of Stay ◽

Catchment Area ◽

Emergency Department Crowding ◽

Before And After

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Impact of streaming "fast track" emergency department patients

Australian Health Review ◽

10.1071/ah060525 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 525 ◽

Cited By ~ 50

Author(s):

Debra O'Brien ◽

Aled Williams ◽

Kerrianne Blondell ◽

George A Jelinek

Keyword(s):

Emergency Department ◽

Length Of Stay ◽

Waiting Time ◽

Fast Track ◽

Average Length ◽

Waiting Times ◽

Relative Reduction ◽

Average Waiting Time ◽

Discharged Patients ◽

Track Area

Objective: Fast track systems to stream emergency department (ED) patients with low acuity conditions have been introduced widely, resulting in reduced waiting times and lengths of stay for these patients. We aimed to prospectively assess the impact on patient flows of a fast track system implemented in the emergency department of an Australian tertiary adult teaching hospital which deals with relatively few low acuity patients. Methods: During the 12-week trial period, patients in Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) categories 3, 4 and 5 who were likely to be discharged were identified at triage and assessed and treated in a separate fast track area by ED medical and nursing staff rostered to work exclusively in the area. Results: The fast track area managed 21.6% of all patients presenting during its hours of operation. There was a 20.3% (?18 min; 95%CI, ?26 min to ?10 min) relative reduction in the average waiting time and an 18.0% (?41 min; 95%CI, ?52 min to ?30 min) relative reduction in the average length of stay for all discharged patients compared with the same period the previous year. Compared with the 12-week period before the fast track trial, there was a 3.4% (?2.1 min; 95%CI, ?8 min to 4 min) relative reduction in the average waiting time and a 9.7% (?20 min; 95%CI, ?31 min to ?9 min) relative reduction in the average length of stay for all discharged patients. There was no increase in the average waiting time for admitted patients. This was despite major increases in throughput and access block in the study period. Conclusion: Streaming fast track patients in the emergency department of an Australian tertiary adult teaching hospital can reduce waiting times and length of stay for discharged patients without increasing waiting times for admitted patients, even in an ED with few low acuity patients.

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Evaluating the impact of emergency department crowding on disposition patterns and outcomes of discharged patients

International Journal of Emergency Medicine ◽

10.1186/s12245-019-0223-1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mahshid Abir ◽

Jason E. Goldstick ◽

Rosalie Malsberger ◽

Andrew Williams ◽

Sebastian Bauhoff ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emergency Department ◽

Emergency Department Crowding ◽

Discharged Patients ◽

The Impact

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Type of facility influences lengths of stay of children presenting to high volume emergency departments

BMC Pediatrics ◽

10.1186/s12887-020-02400-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Rhonda J. Rosychuk ◽

Brian H. Rowe

Keyword(s):

Emergency Department ◽

Length Of Stay ◽

Emergency Departments ◽

High Volume ◽

Population Based ◽

Initial Assessment ◽

Teaching Hospitals ◽

Emergency Department Crowding ◽

Academic Teaching ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background Emergency department crowding may impact patient and provider outcomes. We describe emergency department crowding metrics based on presentations by children to different categories of high volume emergency departments in Alberta, Canada. Methods This population-based retrospective study extracted all presentations made by children (age < 18 years) during April 2010 to March 2015 to 15 high volume emergency departments: five regional, eight urban, and two academic/teaching. Time to physician initial assessment, and length of stay for discharges and admissions were calculated based on the start of presentation and emergency department facility. Multiple metrics, including the medians for hourly, facility-specific time to physician initial assessment and length of stay were obtained. Results About half (51.2%) of the 1,124,119 presentations were made to the two academic/teaching emergency departments. Males presented more than females (53.6% vs 46.4%) and the median age was 5 years. Pediatric presentations to the three categories of emergency departments had mostly similar characteristics; however, urban and academic/teaching emergency departments had more severe triage scores and academic/teaching emergency departments had higher admissions. Across all emergency departments, the medians of the metrics for time to physician initial assessment, length of stay for discharges and for admission were 1h11min, 2h21min, and 6h29min, respectively. Generally, regional hospitals had shorter times than urban and academic/teaching hospitals. Conclusions Pediatric presentations to high volume emergency departments in this province suggest similar delays to see providers; however, length of stay for discharges and admissions were shorter in regional emergency departments. Crowding is more common in urban and especially academic emergency departments and the impact of crowding on patient outcomes requires further study.

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