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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Improving Patient Flow and Reducing Emergency Department Crowding: A Guide for Hospitals

About this resource:

HHS Non-systematic Review

Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2012

Last Reviewed: July 2018

Workgroups: Access to Health Services Workgroup

This guide gives step-by-step instructions to help hospitals plan for and implement patient flow improvement strategies to reduce crowding in emergency departments. It covers the need to address emergency department crowding, explains how to form a patient flow team, and provides guidance for identifying and launching different strategies.

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Objectives related to this resource (1)

Reduce the proportion of emergency department visits with a longer wait time than recommended — AHS‑09
Little or no detectable change

Suggested Citation

1.

McHugh, M., VanDyke, K., McClelland, M., & Moss, D. (2012). Improving patient flow and reducing emergency department crowding: a guide for hospitals (AHRQ Publication No. 11(12)-0094). Retrieved from https://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/final-reports/ptflow/index.html