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BMC Emergency Medicine
Published in: BMC Emergency Medicine 1/2019

Open Access 01-12-2019 | Research article

Effectiveness of interventions to alleviate emergency department crowding by older adults: a systematic review

Authors: Gijs Hesselink, Özcan Sir, Yvonne Schoon

Published in: BMC Emergency Medicine | Issue 1/2019

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Abstract

Background

The growing demand for elderly care often exceeds the ability of emergency department (ED) services to provide quality of care within reasonable time. The purpose of this systematic review is to assess the effectiveness of interventions on reducing ED crowding by older patients, and to identify core characteristics shared by successful interventions.

Methods

Six major biomedical databases were searched for (quasi)experimental studies published between January 1990 and March 2017 and assessing the effect of interventions for older patients on ED crowding related outcomes. Two independent reviewers screened and selected studies, assessed risk of bias and extracted data into a standardized form. Data were synthesized around the study setting, design, quality, intervention content, type of outcome and observed effects.

Results

Of the 16 included studies, eight (50%) were randomized controlled trials (RCTs), two (13%) were non-RCTs and six (34%) were controlled before-after (CBA) studies. Thirteen studies (81%) evaluated effects on ED revisits and four studies (25%) evaluated effects on ED throughput time. Thirteen studies (81%) described multicomponent interventions. The rapid assessment and streaming of care for older adults based on time-efficiency goals by dedicated staff in a specific ED unit lead to a statistically significant decrease of ED length of stay (LOS). An ED-based consultant geriatrician showed significant time reduction between patient admission and geriatric review compared to an in-reaching geriatrician.

Conclusion

Inter-study heterogeneity and poor methodological quality hinder drawing firm conclusions on the intervention’s effectiveness in reducing ED crowding by older adults. More evidence-based research is needed using uniform and valid effect measures.

Trial registration

The protocol is registered with the PROSPERO International register of systematic reviews: ID = CRD42017075575).
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Effectiveness of interventions to alleviate emergency department crowding by older adults: a systematic review
Authors
Gijs Hesselink
Özcan Sir
Yvonne Schoon
Publication date
01-12-2019
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Emergency Medicine / Issue 1/2019
Electronic ISSN: 1471-227X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12873-019-0288-4

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