• Ligang Ye, Guangju Zhou, Xiaojun He, Weifeng Shen, Jianxin Gan, and Mao Zhang.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine and Institute of Emergency Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
• Emerg Med Australas. 2012 Dec 1;24(6):634-40.

ObjectiveED overcrowding is a worldwide issue, with most evidence coming from developed countries. Until now, little was known about this subject in China. The aim of this study was to investigate the situation of prolonged lengths of stay (LOS) in the ED for high-acuity patients in a Chinese tertiary hospital and to identify associated factors.MethodsA retrospective study was performed in a Chinese tertiary hospital from 1 January to 31 December 2010. The primary outcomes were ED LOS and associated factors in overall high-acuity patients. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was used.ResultsIn this consecutive study period, 7966 high-acuity patients presenting to the ED were triaged to the resuscitation room. The median LOS in the ED for these patients was 10.6 h (IQR, 3.1-23.1 h). In the multivariate analysis, the most significant factor associated with prolonged LOS was boarding for more than 2 h (OR, 4.29; 95% CI, 4.03-4.57). Patients requiring emergency operation or intensive care unit admission experienced a shorter LOS (OR, 0.56 and 0.76; 95% CI, 0.53-0.60 and 0.71-0.81, respectively). Older patients, night shift arrivals, non-spring visitors, general internal medicine patients and patients leaving without receiving advanced therapy had longer LOS.ConclusionsWe found an excessive LOS in the resuscitation room in this tertiary hospital. The most significant reason for prolonged LOS was boarding block. Shortage of inpatient beds and reluctance of the wards to admit these patients might be the primary reasons for extremely long boarding.© 2012 The Authors. EMA © 2012 Australasian College for Emergency Medicine and Australasian Society for Emergency Medicine.

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