Modulating patient output: rethinking the role of EM in the healthcare system - Lang-Hodge, A. M.; Monaghan, M. N.; Lim, R.; Heymann, E. P.; Lang, E. (Intern Emerg Med, 2024)
Overcrowding has become a significant issue in Emergency departments (EDs) around the world. Overcrowding contributes to a chaotic, unsafe and disorganized environment, increasing the burden on healthcare teams, and has led to deteriorating working conditions, with subsequent higher rates of burnout. This review aims to discuss different solutions to improve the process of patient discharge from the ED, either to an inpatient unit, another hospital, or to an outpatient setting, and the impact this component of patient flow can have on physician well being. The solutions presented in this paper have been chosen for their translatability to any setting, regardless of their geographical location.
Keywords: journalArticle; *Emergency Service, Hospital/organization & administration; Crowding/psychology; Emergency department; Flow solutions; Humans; Output; Overcrowding; Patient Discharge/standards; Physician wellness; Strategy implementation; conflict of interest. Human and animal rights: This article does not contain any; published data. Informed consent: Formal consent is not required for this type of; studies directly involving human participants as it is a review of previously; study