CJEM
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Editorial Comment
From STEMI to occlusion MI: paradigm shift and ED quality improvement.
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Emergency department (ED) crowding is a significant problem in Canada and internationally and is associated with the potential for patient harm. Although pediatric patients represent a significant proportion of overall ED visits, there is limited research on pediatric ED crowding. The Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians defines department crowding as a mismatch between the required and available resources to provide timely emergency care. We propose that rather than crowding, it is better to think of ED patient populations as being more or less "complex" as defined by proxies of the human and physical resources needed for patient management. The study objectives are to explore the utility of a simple and easily available retrospective metric of ED complexity, and to assess the relationship this measure has on patient outcomes in a pediatric ED. ⋯ The departmental complexity score has promise as a retrospective measure of departmental resource requirement and may have a role in the ongoing assessment of patient flow.