Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jul 11;7(7):CD014553.
doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD014553.pub2.

Acute assessment services for patient flow assistance in hospital emergency departments

Affiliations

Acute assessment services for patient flow assistance in hospital emergency departments

Victoria Shaw et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. .

Abstract

Background: Emergency departments (EDs) are facing serious and significant issues in the delivery of effective and efficient care to patients. Acute assessment services have been implemented at many hospitals internationally to assist in maintaining patient flow for identified groups of patients attending the ED. Identifying the risks and benefits, and optimal configurations of these services may be beneficial to those wishing to utilise an acute assessment service to improve patient flow.

Objectives: To assess the effects of acute assessment services on patient flow following attendance at a hospital ED.

Search methods: We searched MEDLINE, CENTRAL, Embase and two trials registers on 24 September 2022 to identify studies. No restrictions were imposed on publication year, publication type, or publication language.

Selection criteria: Studies eligible for inclusion were randomised trials and cluster-randomised trials with at least two intervention and two control sites. Participants were adults (as defined by study authors) receiving care either in the ED or the acute assessment service, where both were based in the hospital setting. The comparison was hospital-based acute assessment services with usual, ED-only care. The outcomes of this review were mortality at time point closest to 30 days, length of stay in the service (in minutes), and waiting time to see a doctor (in minutes).

Data collection and analysis: We followed the standard procedures of Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care for this review (https://epoc.cochrane.org/resources).

Main results: We identified a total of 5754 records in the search. Following assessment of 3609 de-duplicated records, none were found to be eligible for inclusion in this review.

Authors' conclusions: At present there are no randomised controlled trials exploring the effects of acute assessment services on patient flow in hospital-based emergency departments compared to usual, ED-only care.

پیشینه: بخش‌های اورژانس (emergency departments; EDs) با مسائل جدی و قابل‌توجهی در ارائه مراقبت‌های موثر و کارآمد به بیماران مواجه هستند. خدمات ارزیابی حاد (acute assessment services) در بسیاری از بیمارستان‌ها در سطح بین‌المللی به منظور کمک به حفظ جریان بیمار (patient flow) برای گروه‌های مشخص شده از بیمارانی که در ED شرکت می‌کنند، به مرحله اجرا درآمده‌اند. شناسایی خطرات و مزایا، و پیکربندی مطلوب این خدمات ممکن است برای کسانی که مایل به استفاده از خدمات ارزیابی حاد برای بهبود جریان بیمار هستند، مفید باشند. اهداف: ارزیابی اثرات خدمات ارزیابی حاد بر جریان بیمار پس از حضور در ED بیمارستان. روش‌های جست‌وجو: برای شناسایی مطالعات، MEDLINE؛ CENTRAL؛ Embase و دو پایگاه ثبت کارآزمایی را در 24 سپتامبر 2022 جست‌وجو کردیم. هیچ محدودیتی برای سال انتشار، نوع انتشار یا زبان انتشار مطالعات اعمال نشد. معیارهای انتخاب: مطالعات واجد شرایط برای ورود، کارآزمایی‌های تصادفی‌سازی‌شده و خوشه‌ای‐تصادفی‌سازی شده با حداقل دو محل مداخله و دو محل کنترل بودند. شرکت‌کنندگان، بزرگسالی بودند (مطابق با تعریف نویسندگان مطالعه) که در ED یا خدمات ارزیابی حاد، مراقبت دریافت کردند، که هر دو در محیط بیمارستانی انجام شدند. مقایسه عبارت بود از خدمات ارزیابی حاد بیمارستان‐محور با فقط مراقبت معمول و ED. نتایج این مرور شامل مورتالیتی در کوتاه‌ترین نقطه زمانی تا 30 روز، طول دوره بستری در مرکز ارائه خدمت (بر حسب دقیقه)، و زمان انتظار برای ملاقات با پزشک (در دقیقه). گردآوری و تجزیه‌وتحلیل داده‌ها: پروسیجرهای استاندارد گروه عملکرد موثر و سازمان‌‌دهی مراقبت در کاکرین را برای این مرور دنبال کردیم (https://epoc.cochrane.org/resources). نتایج اصلی: در مجموع 5754 رکورد را در جست‌وجوی خود شناسایی کردیم. پس از ارزیابی 3609 رکورد حذف شده، هیچ یک واجد شرایط برای گنجاندن در این مرور نبودند. نتیجه‌گیری‌های نویسندگان: در حال حاضر هیچ کارآزمایی تصادفی‌سازی شده و کنترل شده‌ای وجود ندارد که اثرات خدمات ارزیابی حاد را بر جریان بیمار در بخش‌های اورژانس بیمارستانی در مقایسه با فقط مراقبت‌های معمول ED بررسی کرده باشد.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Victoria M Shaw: none known

An Yu: none known

Matthew Parsons: none known

Tava L Olsen: none known

Cameron G Walker: none known

Figures

1
1
Study flow diagram.

Update of

  • doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD014553

Similar articles

Cited by

References

References to studies excluded from this review

Goodacre 2004 {published data only}
    1. Goodacre, S, Nicholl, J, Dixon, S, Cross, E, Angelini, K, Arnold, J, et al. Randomised controlled trial and economic evaluation of a chest pain observation unit compared with routine care. BMJ 2004;328(7434):254-60. - PMC - PubMed

Additional references

Abdulwahid 2016
    1. Abdulwahid M, Booth A, Kuczawski M, Mason S. The impact of senior doctor assessment at triage on emergency department performance measures: systematic review and meta-analysis of comparative studies. Emergency Medicine Journal 2016;33:504-13. - PubMed
Aboagye‐Sarfo 2015
    1. Aboagye-Sarfo P, Mai Q, Sanfilippo F, Preen D, Stewart L, Fatovich D. Growth in Western Australian emergency department demand is due to people with urgent and complex care needs. Emergency Medicine Australasia 2015;27:202-9. - PubMed
Bellow 2014
    1. Bellow A, Gillespie A. The evolution of ED crowding. Journal of Emergency Nursing 2014;40(2):153-60. - PubMed
Borenstein 2009
    1. Borenstein M, Hedges LV, Higgins JP, Rothstein HR. When does it make sense to perform a meta-analysis? In: Introduction to Meta-Analysis. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2009.
Bucci 2016
    1. Bucci S, Belvis A, Marventano S, De Leva A, Tanzariello M, Speccia M, et al. Emergency department crowding and hospital bed shortage: is Lean a smart answer? A systematic review. European Review for Medical and Pharmacological Sciences 2016;20:4209-19. - PubMed
Bullard 2012
    1. Bullard M, Villa-Roel C, Guo X, Holroyd B, Innes G, Schull M, et al. The role of rapid assessment zone/pods on reducing overcrowding in emergency departments: a systematic review. Emergency Medicine Journal 2012;29:372-8. - PubMed
Byrne 2011
    1. Byrne D, Silke B. Acute Medical Units: review of evidence. European Journal of Internal Medicine 2011;22:344-7. - PubMed
Chan 2017
    1. Chan M, Meckler G, Doan Q. Paediatric emergency department overcrowding and adverse patient outcomes. Paediatrics Child Health 2017;22(7):377-81. - PMC - PubMed
Coster 2017
    1. Coster J, Turner J, Bradbury D, Cantrell A. Why do people choose emergency and urgent care services? A rapid review utilising a systematic literature search and narrative synthesis. Academic Emergency Medicine 2017;24(9):1137-49. - PMC - PubMed
Crawford 2017
    1. Crawford J, Cooper S, Cant R, DeSouza R. The impact of walk-in centres and GP cooperatives on emergency department presentations: a systematic review of the literature. International Emergency Nursing 2017;34:36-42. - PubMed
De Freitas 2018
    1. De Freitas L, Goodacre S, O'Hara R, Thokala P, Hariharan S. Interventions to improve flow in emergency departments: an umbrella review. Emergency Medicine Journal 2018;35:626-37. - PubMed
Deeks 2022
    1. Deeks JJ, Higgins JP, Altman DG, editor(s). Chapter 10: Analysing data and undertaking meta-analyses. In: Higgins JP, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA editor(s). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 6.3 (updated February 2022). Cochrane, 2022. Available from www.training.cochrane.org/handbook.
Elder 2015
    1. Elder E, Johnston A, Crilly J. Systematic review of three key strategies designed to improve patient flow through the emergency department. Emergency Medicine Australasia 2015;27:394-404. - PubMed
EPOC 2017a
    1. Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC). Data collection form. EPOC resources for review authors, 2017. Available from epoc.cochrane.org/epoc-specific-resources-review-authors.
EPOC 2017b
    1. Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC). Suggested risk of bias criteria for EPOC reviews. EPOC resources for review authors, 2017. Available from epoc.cochrane.org/epoc-specific-resources-review-authors.
EPOC 2017c
    1. Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC). EPOC worksheets for preparing a 'Summary of findings' table using GRADE. EPOC resources for review authors, 2017. Available from epoc.cochrane.org/epoc-specific-resources-review-authors.
Galipeau 2015
    1. Galipeau J, Pussegoda K, Stevens A, Brehaut J, Curran J, Forster A. Effectiveness and safety of short-stay units in the emergency department: a systematic review. Academic Emergency Medicine 2015;22:893-907. - PubMed
GRADEpro GDT [Computer program]
    1. GRADEpro GDT. Version accessed 2 March 2021. Hamilton (ON): McMaster University (developed by Evidence Prime).
Guyatt 2008
    1. Guyatt GH, Oxman AD, Vist G, Kunz R, Falck-Ytter Y, Alonso-Coello P, et al, GRADE Working Group. GRADE: an emerging consensus on rating quality of evidence and strength of recommendations. BMJ 2008;336(7650):924-6. - PMC - PubMed
Higgins 2003
    1. Higgins JP, Thompson SG, Deeks JJ, Altman DG. Measuring inconsistency in meta-analyses. BMJ 2003;327:557-60. - PMC - PubMed
Higgins 2017
    1. Higgins JP, Green S, editor(s). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 5.2, The Cochrane Collaboration, 2017. Available from handbook.cochrane.org.
Higgins 2022a
    1. Higgins JP, Li T, Deeks JJ, editor(s). Chapter 6: Choosing effect measures and computing estimates of effect. In: Higgins JP, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA editor(s). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 6.3 (updated February 2022). Cochrane, 2022. Available from www.training.cochrane.org/handbook.
Higgins 2022b
    1. Higgins JP, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA, editor(s). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 6.3 (updated February 2022). Cochrane, 2022. Available from www.training.cochrane.org/handbook.
Holden 2011
    1. Holden R. Lean thinking in emergency departments: a critical review. Annals of Emergency Medicine 2011;52:126-36. - PMC - PubMed
Hoot 2008
    1. Hoot N, Aronsky D. Systematic review of emergency department crowding: causes, effects and solutions. Annals of Emergency Medicine 2008;52(2):126-36. - PMC - PubMed
Jones 2017
    1. Jones P, Wells S, Harper J, Le Fevre J, Stewart J, Curtis J, et al. Impact of a national time target for ED length of stay on patient outcomes. New Zealand Medical Journal 2017;130:15-34. - PubMed
Kriendler 2015
    1. Kriendler S, Cui Y, Metge C, Raynard M. Patient characteristics associated with longer emergency department stay: a rapid review. Emergency Medicine Journal 2015;33:1-6. - PubMed
Liberati 2009
    1. Liberati A, Altman DG, Tetzlaff J, Mulrow C, Gotzsche PC, Ioannidis JP, et al. The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate health care interventions: explanation and elaboration. PLoS Medicine 2009;6(7):e1000100. - PMC - PubMed
Mason 2017
    1. Mason S, Knowles E, Boyle A. Exit block in emergency departments: a rapid evidence review. Emergency Medicine Journal 2017;34:46-51. - PubMed
McKenzie 2022a
    1. McKenzie JE, Brennan SE, Ryan RE, Thomson HJ, Johnston RV. Chapter 9: Summarizing study characteristics and preparing for synthesis. In: Higgins JP, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA editor(s). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 6.3 (updated February 2022). Cochrane, 2022. Available from www.training.cochrane.org/handbook.
McKenzie 2022b
    1. McKenzie JE, Brennan SE. Chapter 12: Synthesizing and presenting findings using other methods. In: Higgins JP, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA editor(s). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions Version 6.3 (updated February 2022). Cochrane, 2022. Available from www.training.cochrane.org/handbook.
Morley 2018
    1. Morley C, Unwin M, Peterson G, Stankovich J, Kinsman L. Emergency department crowding: a systematic review of causes, consequences and solutions. PLoS ONE 2018;13(8):1-42. - PMC - PubMed
Moskop 2009
    1. Moskop J, Sklar D, Geiderman J, Schears R, Bookman K. Emergency department crowding, Part 1 - Concept, causes and moral consequences. Annals of Emergency Medicine 2009;53(5):605-11. - PubMed
NICE 2018
    1. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Chapter 24: assessment through acute medical units. In: Emergency and acute medical care in over 16s: service delivery and organisation: NICE guideline ng94. Available at: www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng94/evidence/24.assessment-through-acute-medic... 2018. - PubMed
Review Manager 2020 [Computer program]
    1. Review Manager 5 (RevMan 5). Version 5.4. Copenhagen: The Cochrane Collaboration, 2020.
RevMan Web 2023 [Computer program]
    1. Review Manager Web (RevMan Web). Version 5.5.0. The Cochrane Collaboration, 2023. Available at revman.cochrane.org.
Scott 2009
    1. Scott I, Vaughan L, Bell D. Effectiveness of acute medical units in hospitals: a systematic review. International Journal for Quality in Health Care 2009;21:397-407. - PubMed
Staib 2016
    1. Staib A, Sullivan C, Griffin B, Bell A, Scott I. Report on the 4-h rule and National Emergency Access Target (NEAT) in Australia: time to review. Australian Health Review 2016;40:319-23. - PubMed
Sterne 2011
    1. Sterne JA, Sutton AJ, Ioannidis JP, Terrin N, Jones DR, Lau J, et al. Recommendations for examining and interpreting funnel plot asymmetry in meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials. BMJ 2011;343:d4002. [DOI: 10.1136/bmj.d4002] - DOI - PubMed
Tenbensel 2017
    1. Tenbensel T, Chalmers L, Jones P, Appleton-Dyer S, Walton S, Ameratunga S. New Zealand's emergency department target - did it reduce ED length of stay, and if so, how and when? BMC Health Services Research 2017;17:1-15. - PMC - PubMed
Unwin 2016
    1. Unwin M, Kinsman L, Rigby S. Why are we waiting? Patients' perspectives for accessing emergency department services with non-urgent complaints. International Emergency Nursing 2016;29:3-8. - PubMed
Van Galen 2017
    1. Van Galen L, Lammers E, Schoonmade L, Alam N, Kramer M, Nanayakkara P. Acute Medical Units: the way to go? A literature review. European Journal of Internal Medicine 2017;39:24-31. - PubMed
Weber 2012
    1. Weber E, Mason S, Freeman J, Coster J. Implications of England's four-hour target for quality of care and resource use in the emergency department. Annals of Emergency Medicine 2012;60:699-706. - PubMed

References to other published versions of this review

Shaw 2021
    1. Shaw VM, Yu A, Parsons M, Olsen T, Walker C. Acute assessment services for patient flow assistance in hospital emergency departments. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2021, Issue 4. Art. No: CD014553. [DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD014553] - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources