NCT02754245

ED Overcrowding Validation Study

A Validation Study of Emergency Department Crowding Estimation

• Status: Terminated
• Phase: —
• Study type: Observational
• Enrollment: 7,000 (actual)
• Sponsor: Baylor Research Institute · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 100 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The aim of this study is to externally validate a new emergency department overcrowding estimation tool (SONET) developed at John Peter Smith Health Network (JPS).

Detailed description

In recent years, emergency department (ED) overcrowding has become more and more common in regional and tertiary referral hospitals. ED overcrowding status significantly affects ED operational efficiency, resulting in ambulance diversion, increased ED 72h return visits, patient satisfaction, and left without being seen (LWBS) rates. Several estimation tools were derived to determine ED overcrowding status using various operational parameters such as, but not limited to, total number of ED patients, total ED admission holds, nursing staff, and patient injury severity. However, these tools cannot precisely evaluate ED overcrowding status, nor show strong correlations with ED operational inefficiency. The National Emergency Department Overcrowding Study (NEDOCS) is a widely used estimation tool to determine ED overcrowding status with relatively high consistency rates. However, the study was not able to evaluate interrater reliability since no standard definition of overcrowding existed. An ED overcrowding estimation tool, SONET, was developed and internally validated at JPS and showed more consistency and accuracy when compared to estimation rates utilizing NEDOCS. All things considered, it is worthwhile to perform a survey study to determine the interrater variability between different evaluators for an ED overcrowding evaluation tool, one utilizing all possible collectible operational variables. In order to minimize the bias and further determine the accuracy of evaluating ED overcrowding status, a multi-center external validation study is warranted. This study will extend to six sites for the purpose of externally validating JPS' novel ED overcrowding estimation tool, SONET, by comparing its overcrowding estimation rates with those derived utilizing NEDOCS.

Conditions

• Emergency Department Overcrowding

Timeline

• Start date: 2016-11-14
• Primary completion: 2017-01-31
• Completion: 2019-03-01
• First posted: 2016-04-28
• Last updated: 2026-02-18