Michael Schull, Astrid Guttmann, Marian Vermeulan, Therese Stukel, & Dorina Simeonov. (2012). Is achieving Ontario’s Emergency Department length of stay performance targets associated with improved patient outcomes following discharge? Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences. Availavle from: http://www.ices.on.ca/file/ED%20LOS%20Targets%20and%20Patient%20Outcomes%20Brief%202012-02-29.pdf

Background:

Wait time targets are controversial since some claim that the push for improved efficiency could compromise patient safety. On the other hand, spending long hours waiting for care in an ED has itself been shown to have safety risks. We tested the question of whether ED patients, who arrived during a shift when a greater percentage of all ED patients seen on that shift met their respective MOHLTC ED LOS targets, had a lower risk of mortality or hospital admission in the 7 days following ED discharge. We looked only at outcomes among patients discharged from the ED, since subsequent outcomes among admitted patients could be due to in-patient, as opposed to ED, care.