Is emergency department crowding associated with increased "bounceback" admissions?

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Emergency department (ED) crowding is linked with poor quality of care and worse outcomes, including higher mortality. With the growing emphasis on hospital performance measures, there is additional concern whether inadequate care during crowded periods increases a patient's likelihood of subsequent inpatient admission. We sought to determine if ED crowding during the index visit was associated with these "bounceback" admissions.

Methods

We used comprehensive, nonpublic, statewide ED and inpatient discharge data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development from 2007 to identify index outpatient ED visits and bounceback admissions within 7 days. We further used ambulance diversion data collected from California local emergency medical serv

SUBMITTER: Hsia RY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3839788 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature