Invited Commentary

Commentary on “A Hospitalist-Led Team to Manage Patient Boarding in the Emergency Department: Impact on Hospital Length of Stay and Cost”

Authors: Amy A. Ernst, MD

Abstract

As emergency medicine physicians, we are all too familiar with overcrowding in the emergency department (ED). Previous ED studies have shown that overcrowding occurs anywhere from 12% to 73% of the time. In fact, scales have been validated to determine the presence of overcrowding and predict the degree of overcrowding.1

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References

1. Weiss SJ, Derlet R, Arndahl J, et al. Estimating the degree of emergency department overcrowding in academic medical centers: results of the National ED Overcrowding Study (NEDOCS). Acad Emerg Med 2004;11:38-50.
2. Bernstein SL, Aronsky D, Duseja R, et al. The effect of emergency department crowding on clinically oriented outcomes. Acad Emerg Med 2009;16:1-10.
3. Singer AJ, Thode HC, Jr Viccellio P, et al. The association between length of emergency department boarding and mortality. Acad Emerg Med 2011;18:1324-1329.
4. Wong HJ, Morra D, Caesar M, et al. Understanding hospital and emergency department congestion: an examination of inpatient admission trends and bed resources. CJEM 2010;12:18-26.
5. Hrycko A, Tiwari V, Vemula M, et al. A hospitalist-led team to manage patient boarding in the emergency department: impact on hospital length of stay and cost. South Med J 2019;112:599-603.
6. Chadaga SR, Shockley L, Keniston A, et al. Hospitalist-led medicine emergency department team: associations with throughput, timeliness of patient care, and satisfaction. J Hosp Med 2012;7:562-566.
7. Howell E, Bessman E, Kravet S, et al. Active bed management by hospitalists and emergency department throughput. Ann Intern Med 2008;149:804-811.