The Impact of Emergency Department Overcrowding on Nursing Professional Practice and Patient Care (Essay Sample)

The Impact of Emergency Department Overcrowding on Nursing Professional Practice and Patient Care Student Full Name Institutional Affiliation Course Full Title Instructor Full Name Due Date The Impact of Emergency Department Overcrowding: Effect on Nursing Professional Practice and Patient Care Globally, emergency department overcrowding has become a public health concern and a key indicator of a functioning healthcare system. Overcrowding is regarded as exceeding the emergency department (ED) service demands based on the resources available to provide such services (McKenna et al., 2019). The services in these departments entail complex procedures focused on offering urgent care to patients. Therefore, emergency department overcrowding significantly threatens to deliver quality care and to provide positive patient outcomes (Savioli et al., 2022). As such, overcrowding is associated with adverse effects, including increased medication errors, low quality of care, limited patient satisfaction, increased mortality rates, and nurse burnout. Treatment interventions achieve their intended purpose if care is provided promptly. Unfortunately, crowding in emergency departments delays care provision (McKenna et al., 2019). Consequently, patients waiting times increase along with the length of their stay in the emergency department. Clinical decisions on the admission of patients are also affected by ED overcrowding, leading to increased admission rates (Jung et al., 2021). The delays are recorded in time-sensitive interventions, including resuscitation, antibiotic administration, analgesia, and triage provision (Savioli et al., 2022). Thus, the interventions do not enhance the provision of quality and safe patient care. Congestion in emergency departments is associated with increased mortality rates. ED delays often lead to increased ambulance diversion, resulting in loss of life because of a lack of immediate medical attention for the affected patients (Savioli et al., 2022). Patient outcomes are also affected by overcrowding in these departments, where adverse events are likely to occur, which include nosocomial infections, needle pricks, and falls (McKenna et al., 2019). Thus, congestion in the ED contributes to a loss of hope, frustration, confusion, stress, and depression among patients, leading to an increase in healthcare costs and worsening the existing medical conditions. Nursing professional practice and patient care are also affected by emergency department overcrowding. The experience of congestion contributes to increased emotional and physical burnout in these professions (McKenna et al., 2019). As such, nurses need more motivation to deliver safe and quality patient care (Jung et al., 2021). Often, overcrowding increases the workload for nurses as they focus on meeting increased demands; this makes them stressed, fatigued, and vulnerable to engaging in medication errors (Savioli et al., 2022). Nurses also have to resolve conflicts among patients who lack patience and wait longer to receive care services. Consequently, nurses are dissatisfied with their job roles and responsibilities, leading to a high turnover rate. In conclusion, overcrowding in the emergency department is associated with adverse effects on providing safe and quality care and on nursi...