Effect of a Boarding Restriction Protocol on Emergency Department Crowding.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Access block due to the lack of hospital beds causes crowding of emergency departments (ED). We initiated the "boarding restriction protocol" that limits the time of stay in the ED for patients awaiting hospitalization to 24 hours from arrival. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the boarding restriction protocol on ED crowding.

Materials and methods

The primary outcome was ED occupancy rate, which was calculated as the ratio of the number of occupying patients to the total number of ED beds. Time factors, such as length of stay (LOS), treatment time, and boarding time, were investigated.

Results

The mean of the ED occupancy rate decreased from 1.532±0.432 prior to implementation of the protocol to 1.273±0.353 after (p<0.001). Accor

SUBMITTER: Lee JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9086691 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature