The impact of hospital boarding on the emergency department waiting room

Background Patient boarding in the emergency department (ED) is a significant issue leading to increased morbidity/mortality, longer lengths of stay, and higher hospital costs. We examined the impact of boarding patients on the ED waiting room. Additionally, we determined whether facility type, patient acuity, time of day, or hospital occupancy impacted waiting rooms in 18 EDs across a large healthcare system. Methods This was a retrospective multicenter study that included all ED encounters between January 1, 2018, and September 30, 2019. Encounters with missing Emergency Severity Index (ESI) level were excluded. ESI levels were defined as high (ESI 1,2), middle (ESI 3), and low (ESI 4,5). Spearman correlation coefficients measured the relationship between boarded patients and number of patients in ED waiting room. A multivariable mixed effects model identified drivers of this relationship. Results A total of 1,134,178 encounters were included. Spearman correlation coefficient was significant between number of patients in the ED waiting room and patient boarding (0.54). For every additional patient boarded/hour, the number of patients waiting/hour in the waiting room increased by 8% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.08-1.09). The number of patients waiting for a room/hour was 2.28 times higher for middle than for high acuity. The number of patients in waiting room slightly decreased as hospital occupancy increased (95% CI = 0.997-0.997). Conclusion Number of patients in ED waiting room are directly related to boarding times and hospital occupancy. ED waiting room times should be considered as not just an ED operational issue, but an aspect of hospital throughput.