The Most Crowded US Hospital Emergency Departments Did Not Adopt Effective Interventions To Improve Flow, 2007-10.

Emergency department (ED) crowding adversely affects patient care and outcomes. Despite national recommendations to address crowding, it persists in most US EDs today. Using nationally representative data, we evaluated the use of interventions to address crowding in US hospitals in the period 2007-10. We examined the relationship between crowding within an ED itself, measured as longer ED lengths-of-stay, and the number of interventions adopted. In our study period the average number of interventions adopted increased from 5.2 to 6.6, and seven of the seventeen studied interventions saw a significant increase in adoption. In general, more crowded EDs adopted greater numbers of interventions than less crowded EDs. However, in the most crowded quartile of EDs, a large proportion had not adopted effective interventions: 19 percent did not use bedside registration, and 94 percent did not use surgical schedule smoothing. Thus, while adoption of strategies to reduce ED crowding is increasing, many of the nation's most crowded EDs have not adopted proven interventions.

Urinary catheter use and appropriateness in U.S. emergency departments, 1995-2010.

OBJECTIVES: Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is the most prevalent hospital-acquired infection, yet little is known about emergency department (ED) use of urinary catheters. The objective was to describe use of urinary catheters in U.S. EDs and determine the proportion that was potentially avoidable. METHODS: The National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), a weighted probability sample of U.S. ED visits, was analyzed from 1995 through 2010 for use of urinary catheters in adults. Use of a urinary catheter was a specific chart review element and was classified as potentially avoidable if none of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) list of appropriate indications were met by ED visit diagnoses or patient disposition. Annual frequency of urinary catheter use and appropriateness were calculated. Predictors of ED-placed urinary catheters for admitted patients were assessed with multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: The annual rate of ED-placed urinary catheters varied from 2.2 to 3.3 per 100 adult ED visits. Among admitted patients, 8.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 8.0% to 9.1%) received urinary catheters; 64.9% (95% CI = 56.9% to 72.9%) were potentially avoidable. Among discharged patients 1.6% (95% CI = 1.5% to 1.7%) received urinary catheters. There was no significant trend over time in the use of urinary catheters or potentially avoidable urinary catheters (PAUCs). Predictors of catheter use in admitted patients included indicators of patient severity, female sex, and race/ethnicity. Hospital characteristics predicting catheter use included region, ownership type, and urban location. Predictors of potentially avoidable urinary catheter use were lower patient severity, female sex, care by a midlevel practitioner, and nonurban location. CONCLUSIONS: Reducing use of urinary catheters outside of CDC guideline criteria in ED patients is a promising strategy to reduce CAUTIs.