Emergency department crowding: prioritising quantified crowding measures using a Delphi study.

AimsEmergency department (ED) crowding has been associated with a number of negative health outcomes, including unnecessary deaths, increased waiting times and a decrease in care quality. Despite the seriousness of this issue, there is little agreement on appropriate crowding measures to assess crowding effects on ED operations. The objective of this study was to prioritise a list of quantified crowding measures that would assess the current state of a department.MethodsA three round Delphi study was conducted via email and an Internet based survey tool. The panel consisted of 40 professionals who had exposure to and expertise in crowding. Participants submitted quantified crowding measures which, through three rounds, were evaluated and ranked to assess participant agreement for inclusion.ResultsThe panel identified 27 measures of which eight (29.6%) reached consensus at the end of the study. These measures comprised: (1) ability of ambulances to offload; (2) patients who leave without being seen or treated; (3) time until triage; (4) ED occupancy rate; (5) patients' total length of stay in the ED; (6) time to see a physician; (7) ED boarding time; and (8) number of patients boarding in the ED.ConclusionsThis study resulted in the identification of eight quantified crowding measures, which present a comprehensive view of how crowding is affecting ED operations, and highlighted areas of concern. These quantified measures have the potential to make a considerable contribution to decision making by ED management and to provide a basis for learning across different departments.

Designing for resilience: Using a Delphi study to identify resilience issues for hospital designs in a changing climate

Hospitals are facing a triple challenge - meeting mandatory climate change targets and refurbishing aging infrastructure while simultaneously providing quality of care. With the potential of more frequent disruptive weather events, a UK government-funded project was launched in 2009 to investigate practical strategies for the National Health Service to increase its resilience to climate change. This paper presents the process of defining resilience by using the Delphi method and demonstrates its applicability within healthcare design. A Delphi survey is nearing completion which has determined the significant resilience issues and temperature ranges for ideal and critical conditions. Our preliminary findings identified six priorities that lead towards increasing resilience. Using the Delphi method can be a useful tool in clarifying the focus for healthcare design considerations. Copyright © 2002-2012 The Design Society. All rights reserved.