Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Towards a model of emergency department congestion

Brady, Malcolm; Kumar, Vikas; Byrne, P. J.; Conyngham, Gerry; Liston, Paul; Gilligan, Peadar

Towards a model of emergency department congestion Thumbnail


Authors

Malcolm Brady

P. J. Byrne

Gerry Conyngham

Paul Liston

Peadar Gilligan



Abstract

© Copyright 2017 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. The purpose of this paper is to examine the flow of patients through the emergency department of a large suburban acute general hospital and the factors that influence overcrowding and congestion. The paper broadly draws on the input-process-output systems paradigm as a basis for examining emergency department patient throughput. A dataset of all attendances at the emergency department of a large suburban acute general hospital during the course of a full calendar year was examined using statistical tools. The analysis found that the major influencers of length of stay were patient-related factors such as age, severity of ailment (triage category) and whether or not the patient was admitted into the main hospital. Patients admitted into the hospital had significantly longer length of stay in emergency than those who were not admitted. The main influencers of patient arrivals were temporal factors such as time of day and day of arrival. These influencing factors are formed into a tentative model of emergency department congestion.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Aug 8, 2017
Online Publication Date Dec 15, 2017
Publication Date Dec 15, 2017
Deposit Date Jan 19, 2018
Publicly Available Date Jun 15, 2018
Journal International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management
Print ISSN 1368-2156
Electronic ISSN 1741-5144
Publisher Inderscience
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 16
Issue 3-4
Pages 303-318
DOI https://doi.org/10.1504/IJHTM.2017.088870
Keywords emergency department, age, length of stay, throughput, congestion, admission, hospital
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/901350
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.1504/IJHTM.2017.088870
Additional Information Additional Information : This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1504/IJHTM.2017.088870.
Contract Date Jan 19, 2018

Files







You might also like



Downloadable Citations