The International Federation for Emergency Medicine report on emergency department crowding and access block: a brief summary

A P Javidan; K Hansen; I Higginson; P Jones; E Lang; IFEM Task Force on Emergency Department Crowding and Access Block

doi:10.1186/s12245-020-00312-x

The International Federation for Emergency Medicine report on emergency department crowding and access block: a brief summary

Int J Emerg Med. 2021 Jan 14;14(1):4. doi: 10.1186/s12245-020-00312-x.

Authors

A P Javidan^{1

2}, K Hansen^{3

4}, I Higginson⁵, P Jones^{6

7}, E Lang^{8

9}; IFEM Task Force on Emergency Department Crowding and Access Block

Collaborators

IFEM Task Force on Emergency Department Crowding and Access Block:
Arshia Javidan, Kim Hansen, Ian Higginson, Peter Jones, David Petrie, John Bonning, Simon Judkins, Eric Revue, David Lewis, Brian Holroyd, Laurie Mazurik, Colin Graham, Alix Carter, Shirley Lee, Eliecer Cohen-Olivella, Paul Ho, Ramesh Maharjan, Bianca Bertuzzi, Haldun Akoglu, Jim Ducharme, Maaret Castren, Adrian Boyle, Howard Ovens, Cheng-Chung Fang, Joseph Kalanzi, Jeremiah Schuur, Venkatesh Thiruganasambandamoorthy, Taj Hassan, Gautam Bodiwala, Pauline Convocar, Katherine Henderson, Eddy Lang

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. [email protected].
² Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada. [email protected].
³ Emergency Department, Prince Charles Hospital, Chermside, QLD, Australia. [email protected].
⁴ Emergency Department, St. Andrew's War Memorial Hospital, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. [email protected].
⁵ Emergency Department, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, UK.
⁶ Emergency Department, Auckland City Hospital, Auckland District Health Board, Auckland, New Zealand.
⁷ Department of Surgery, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
⁸ Department of Emergency Medicine, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. [email protected].
⁹ Department of Emergency Medicine, Alberta Health Services, Calgary, AB, Canada. [email protected].

Abstract

Objective: To develop comprehensive guidance that captures international impacts, causes, and solutions related to emergency department crowding and access block METHODS: Emergency physicians representing 15 countries from all IFEM regions composed the Task Force. Monthly meetings were held via video-conferencing software to achieve consensus for report content. The report was submitted and approved by the IFEM Board on June 1, 2020.

Results: A total of 14 topic dossiers, each relating to an aspect of ED crowding, were researched and completed collaboratively by members of the Task Force.

Conclusions: The IFEM report is a comprehensive document intended to be used in whole or by section to inform and address aspects of ED crowding and access block. Overall, ED crowding is a multifactorial issue requiring systems-wide solutions applied at local, regional, and national levels. Access block is the predominant contributor of ED crowding in most parts of the world.

Keywords: Access block; Care systems; Crowding; Emergency care systems; Emergency department management; Emergency department operations.