Patients
admitted during high ED crowding have 5% greater risk of dying
High emergency department
crowding is associated with increased inpatient mortality, as well as moderate
rises in length of stay and costs, concludes a new study in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
Patients admitted to the hospital
during high ED crowding times had 5 percent greater risk of inpatient death
than similar patients admitted to the same hospital when the ED was less
crowded.
The researchers looked at almost
1 million ED visits resulting in admission to 187 hospitals and used daily
ambulance diversion to measure ED crowding, according to a research announcement today.
They found that on days with a
median of seven ambulance diversion hours, admitted patients had a 0.8 percent
longer hospital length of stay and 1 percent higher costs.
Moreover, high ED crowding was
associated with 300 excess inpatient deaths, 6,200 hospital days and $17
million in costs, the study noted.
Such findings are even more
worrisome, given that half of health leaders say their ERs are overcrowded as
is. Overcrowding is growing twice as fast as ER visits.
Hospitals looking to make their
EDs less crowded should target Medicare patients, as almost 60 percent of their ER
visits were "potentially preventable."
However, contrary to popular
belief, nonurgent, Medicaid patients aren't clogging up the ED.
Most Medicaid ED patients go because they have to, seeking
emergent care for serious medical problems. Instead, most crowding stems
from ED boarding, in which emergency patients admitted to the hospital are
waiting for an inpatient bed, FierceHealthcare previously
reported.
Researchers say the new study
reinforces calls to end ED boarding. "Prolonged boarding times may delay
definitive testing and increase short-term mortality, length of stay, and
associated costs," the study states.
For more:
- read the study (.pdf)
- here's the ACEP announcement
- read the study (.pdf)
- here's the ACEP announcement
No comments:
Post a Comment