Factors and Solutions Addressing Overcrowding in Emergency Department

Abstract

Overcrowding in emergency departments is a significant challenge in the world of medicine. Approximately 90% of the emergency departments face the issue of overcrowding. The causes of the phenomena are intensely contested, which makes it challenging to come up with effective, focused solutions. Individual patients, healthcare systems, and entire communities are all impacted by emergency department overcrowding. Crowding's detrimental effects on the delivery of healthcare services lead to delays, subpar care, and inefficiency, all of which have an adverse impact on the health outcomes of emergency patients. The purpose of this research is to review the available information about factors and solutions addressing overcrowding in emergency departments. Increased number of patients arriving in the emergency department, lack of resources, and the number of admitted patients waiting for transfer from the emergency department to a hospital ward are all contributing factors to the problem of overcrowding in the emergency department. The quality of medical care is directly impacted by emergency department overcrowding, which causes medication to be administered later than intended and raises the risk of morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients. It also contributes to a number of unintended issues, including increased duration of waiting times, a decline in patient satisfaction, and a loss of revenue for medical facilities. Additional staff, observation units, hospital bed access, non-urgent referrals, ambulance diversion, destination control, congestion controls, and queuing theory are some of the possible solutions to overcrowding. Effective implementation of the strategies managing overcrowding at emergency department is needed.