Clinical review: Emergency department overcrowding and the potential impact on the critically ill

doi:10.1186/cc2981

Critical Care
Volume 9
Issue 3

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This article is part of a series on Taking Intensive Care outside the ICU, edited by Dr Emmanuel Rivers.

Review

Clinical review: Emergency department overcrowding and the potential impact on the critically ill

Robert M Cowan¹ and Stephen Trzeciak²

¹Chief Resident, Department of Emergency Medicine, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden, Cooper University Hospital, Camden, New Jersey, USA

²Assistant Professor, Department of Emergency Medicine and the Section of Critical Care Medicine, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Camden, Cooper University Hospital, Camden, New Jersey, USA

author email corresponding author email

Critical Care 2005, 9:291-295doi:10.1186/cc2981


Published:	14 October 2004

Abstract

Critical care constitutes a significant and growing proportion of the practice of emergency medicine. Emergency department (ED) overcrowding in the USA represents an emerging threat to patient safety and could have a significant impact on the critically ill. This review describes the causes and effects of ED overcrowding; explores the potential impact that ED overcrowding has on care of the critically ill ED patient; and identifies possible solutions, focusing on ED based critical care.