Emergency Overcrowding Impact on the Quality of Care of Patients Presenting with Acute Stroke
Journal Title: Advanced Journal of Emergency Medicine - Year 2018, Vol 2, Issue 1
Abstract
Introduction: Emergency overcrowding is defined as when the amount of care required for patients overcomes the available amount. This can cause delays in delivering critical care in situations like stroke. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the possible impact of emergency department (ED) crowding on the quality of care for acute stroke patients. Methods: In this cross-sectional prospective study, all patients with symptoms of acute stroke presenting to the ED of educational hospitals were enrolled. All patients were assessed and examined by the emergency medicine (EM) residents on shift and a questionnaire was filled out for them. The amount of time that passed from the first triage to performing the required interventions and delivering health services were recorded by the triage nurse. ED crowding was measured by the occupancy rate. Then, the correlation between all of the variables and ED crowding level were calculated. Results: The average daily bed occupancy rate was 184.9 ± 54.3%. The median time passed from the first triage to performing the interventions were as follows: the first EM resident visit after 34 min, the first neurologic visit after 138 min, head CT after 134 min, ECG after 104 min and ASA administration after 210 min. There was no statistically significant relationship between the ED occupancy rate and the time elapsed before different required health services in the management of stroke patients either throughout an entire day or during each 8-hour interval (p > 0.05). Conclusion: In the current study, the ED occupancy rate was not significantly correlated with the time frame associated with management of admitted acute stroke patients.
Authors and Affiliations
Mehdi Momeni, Elnaz Vahidi, Javad Seyedhosseini, Alemeh Jarchi, Zeinab Naderpour, Morteza Saeedi
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP378179
- DOI 10.22114/ajem.v0i0.25
- Views 137
- Downloads 0
Educational Intervention Effect on Pain Management Quality in Emergency Department; a Clinical Audit
Introduction: Pain is a frequent complaint of patients who are referred to the emergency department (ED), which is ignored or mismanaged and, almost always, approached in terms of determining the cause of pain instead of...
Sample Size Calculation Guide - Part 1: How to Calculate the Sample Size Based on the Prevalence Rate
Sample size calculation is an essential methodological issue in clinical research. It is crucial to ensure that the study has sufficient participants in order to detect the expected effect estimate. Moreover, it has been...
To Head CT Scan or Not: The Clinical Quandary in Suspected Subarachnoid Hemorrhage; a Validation Study on Ottawa Subarachnoid Hemorrhage Rule
Introduction: The Ottawa Subarachnoid Hemorrhage rule (OSR) is a clinical decision tool identified for ruling out subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in those patient above 15 years of age who present to the emergency departme...
Effectiveness of the Concurrent Intravenous Injection of Dexamethasone and Metoclopramide for Pain Management in Patients with Primary Headaches Presenting to Emergency Department
Introduction: Headache is a common reason for visiting emergency departments, and pain control is a major therapeutic goal in patients with headaches. Objective: The present study was conducted to examine the effectiven...
Correlation of Patients’ Baseline Characteristics with Success Rate of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; a Cross-Sectional Study
Introduction: Many advances have been made in method, applied medications and the skill of the treatment staff for performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), yet the rate of mortality following cardiac arrest is sti...