Ohio State hospitals diverting ER patients due to overcrowding

Columbus-based Ohio State University's hospitals face growing issues of overcrowding in their emergency departments, causing them to divert more patients to other local hospitals, according to a report by The Columbus Dispatch.

Between July and November, Ohio State diverted patients for approximately 378 total hours from the EDs, compared to just 49 hours for the same time period in 2013, according to the report.

Ohio State currently faces a backlog of patients who are in the emergency room waiting for an inpatient bed to become available, Thomas Terndrup, chairman of Ohio State's emergency-medicine department, told the Dispatch.

Andrew Thomas, MD, CMO of Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, said in the report the backlog has increased due to an increase in patient transfers from other hospitals.

What's more, the EDs have seen a 1.1 percent increase in visits so far this fiscal year over the previous year, according to the report.

Ohio State recently opened the Arthur G. James cancer hospital, which officials said would hopefully help ease the backlog, according to the report.

More articles on capacity management:

Kronos, TeleTracking partner to improve hospital operational efficiency
What percent of acute-care beds are occupied by non-acute-care patients?
Capacity dashboard: 52 statistics on U.S. hospital capacity

 

 

Copyright © 2024 Becker's Healthcare. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Linking and Reprinting Policy.

 

Featured Whitepapers

Featured Webinars