Implementation of an early attention strategy to reduce emergency room overcrowding in an academic institution in Colombia, a pilot study

Overcrowding is a worldwide problem, and long waiting times are associated with increased morbidity and even mortality of patients regardless of triage classification. Although there are many tools published in the literature that contribute to the reduction of overcrowding, for the Colombian popula...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of emergency medicine 2024-10, Vol.17 (1), p.152-6, Article 152
Main Authors: Jaramillo, German Devia, Zuluaga, Nathalia Esmeral, Avellaneda, Viviana Andrea Velandia, Ramirez, Salvador Menendez, Neira, Fernando Jose Pimienta, Contador, Angie Paola Lopez, Gallo, Juan Pablo Vargas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Angiology
Cardiology
Crowding interventions
Crowding solutions
Emergency department
Emergency medical care
Emergency Medicine
Internal Medicine
Length of stay
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Overcrowding
Patient satisfaction
Patients
Pediatrics
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Summary:Overcrowding is a worldwide problem, and long waiting times are associated with increased morbidity and even mortality of patients regardless of triage classification. Although there are many tools published in the literature that contribute to the reduction of overcrowding, for the Colombian population there are not many tools evaluated to reduce the length of stay of patients in the emergency department. This is a retrospective analytical study that compared whether there was a difference in patient definition time and ED length of stay between a group attended under an early care protocol (PAT) versus the usual protocol. Of the total of 969 patients included it was found that the group attended under the PAT protocol had a shorter definition time than the usual protocol, also the Emergency department length of stay (EDLOS) was significantly lower in the PAT group compared to the usual protocol. The implementation of the PAT protocol performed by emergency physicians allows a faster contact with the patient by the physician, and leads to a significant reduction of EDLOS, contributing to the reduction of overcrowding in the emergency department.
ISSN:1865-1380
1865-1372
1865-1380
DOI:10.1186/s12245-024-00700-7