title: Overcrowding in the emergency departments: Challenges and opportunities for improvement.
abstract: With the advent of Emergency Medicine, one can observe an increase in the number of Emergency Departments (ED) across the country. However, most EDs struggle due to an overwhelming number of patients. Overcrowding can lead to delays in patient care. For a city like Karachi which is an active disaster zone, preemptive preparedness is required in the face of terror threats and such overcrowding needs to be decreased to a bare minimum. The most frequent causes of prolonged length of stay (LOS) in the ED include non-availability of in-hospital beds, delays in response to subspecialty consultations and escalating medical expenses. All of these can negatively impact patient care by putting patient safety at risk and patient care in jeopardy. There is an increased risk of unintentional medical errors and a concomitant increase in unwanted lawsuits. A few simple interventions which may help alleviate this situation to some extent have been discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Muhammad Akbar
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Baig
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Department of Pediatrics & Child Health, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Asad
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mian
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Fatima
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Najeed
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Department of Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Hira
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shahzad
mesh_terms: D003441:Crowding; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D019300:Medical Errors; D010154:Pakistan; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Emergency Department(s), Overcrowding, Length of stay.