Contributing Factors to Patients Overcrowding in Emergency Department at King Saud Hospital Unaizah, KSA

Abstract

Emergency department (ED) crowding represents an international crisis that may affect the quality and access of health care. The aim of this study was to explore contributing factors to patients overcrowding in the emergency department at King Saud hospital, Saudi Arabia. Research design: descriptive analytical. Tool for data collection: questionnaire to explore contributing factors to patients overcrowding in ED. Setting: King Saud Hospital Unaizah, KSA. Sample: stratified random sample (168) subjects including nurses, physicians, technicians and administrators.  Results: the following factors contribute to overcrowding in emergency department: lack of human resources; population density; lack of beds; health awareness; and emergency department design. The respective means of these factors are: 3.91, 3.72, 3.65, 4.27 and 3.95. Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, it was concluded that the domain that has the highest effect on patient overcrowding in ED is health awareness domain. However the domain that has the lowest effect on patient overcrowding in ED is lack of beds Recommendations: the development of standards to work in the emergency department. Create a sort of cases. Increasing the numbers of doctors and nurses in emergency department, review of the shift system currently used and provide additional space for the ED.

Keywords: contributing factor, emergency department, patient overcrowding