Annals of emergency medicine
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This article revisits the persistent problem of crowding in US hospital emergency departments (EDs). It begins with a brief review of origins of this problem, terms used to refer to ED crowding, proposed definitions and measures of crowding, and causal factors. ⋯ It describes several organizational strategies implemented to relieve crowding and implications of ED crowding for individual practitioners. The article concludes that ED crowding remains a morally significant problem and calls on emergency physicians, ED and hospital leaders, emergency medicine professional associations, and policymakers to collaborate on solutions.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The Utility and Survivorship of Peripheral Intravenous Catheters Inserted in the Emergency Department.
We compare the use and survivorship rate of peripheral intravenous catheters placed in the emergency department (ED) by insertion method. ⋯ ED-inserted peripheral intravenous catheters were frequently used in the ED and hospital. Peripheral intravenous use and hospital survivorship of ED-inserted peripheral intravenous catheters were similar by insertion method.
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Freestanding emergency departments (EDs), health care facilities that offer emergency care without being physically attached to a hospital, are becoming more common throughout the United States. Many individuals propose that these facilities can help alleviate the stress our current emergency care system faces and provide care to people with limited access to traditional hospital-based EDs. ⋯ We found that although they provide care that is generally similar in quality and cost to that of hospital-based EDs, freestanding EDs tend to cater to a more affluent patient population that already has access to health care instead of expanding care to underserved areas. This, coupled with a fragmented system of state-by-state regulation, leads us to recommend implementing more uniform licensing criteria from state to state, encouraging freestanding EDs to operate in more rural and underserved areas, and increasing price transparency.
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Comparative Study
Postdischarge Unplanned Care Events Among Commercially Insured Patients With an Observation Stay Versus Short Inpatient Admission.
Observation stays are composing an increasing proportion of unscheduled hospitalizations in the United States, with unclear consequences for the quality of care. This study used a nationally representative data set of commercially insured patients hospitalized from the emergency department (ED) to compare 30-day postdischarge unplanned care events after an observation stay versus a short inpatient admission. ⋯ Commercially insured patients with an observation stay from the ED have a higher risk of postdischarge acute care events compared with similar patients with a short inpatient admission. Additional research is necessary to determine the extent to which quality of care, including care transitions, may differ between these 2 groups.