Impact of Emergency Department Crowding on Nursing Professional Practice and Patient Care (Term Paper Sample)

ED Crowding: Effect on Nursing Professional Practice and Patient Care
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ED Crowding: Effect on Nursing Professional Practice and Patient Care
Emergency department (ED) crowding is a global hospital pandemic. Increased patient volumes, nursing staff shortages, more boarded and acuity patients in the ED, and reduced inpatient bed space characterize ED crowding. Accordingly, nurses exert themselves during crowding to meet the increased demand for care, increasing burnout, exhaustion, stress, and turnover. They are also more likely to make medical errors, while the quality-of-care declines sharply during these periods. Therefore, ED crowding creates access blocks, exhausts nursing staff, and loses the nursing profession revenue from low patient satisfaction scores.
Access block from ED crowding delays patients’ access to quality nursing care, increasing the likelihood of adverse events. According to Johnson and Winkelman (2011, p.41), crowding delays nurses administering antibiotics, aspirin, analgesics, and thrombolytic medications, leading to severe healthcare outcomes. For instance, delayed diagnosis and access to thrombolytic