Evaluation of impact of fast track on emergency overcrowding

Background: Emergency department (ED) overcrowding is a ubiquitousproblem with serious public health implications. The fast track area is a novelmethod which aims to reduce waiting time, patient dissatisfaction and emergencycrowding. The study objective was to determine the impact of a fast track area onemergency crowding and both effectiveness measures (i.e. waiting times [WT]and length of stay [LOS]) and quality measures (i.e. Left without being seen(LWBS) rates and mortality rates) in non-urgent patients. Non-urgent patientswere defined as whose Canadian Triage Acuity Scale (CTAS) was 4 and 5. TheNational Emergency Department Overcrowding Study (NEDOCS) was used tomeasure the ED overcrowding.Methods: The study took place in Ankara, at Gazi Univercity, Faculty ofMedicine, Emergency Medicine Department. This study examined the impact ofFT on a preintervention study group versus post-intervention control group.Results: NEDOCS skore of FT week was less than non-FT week. Patiens?saticfaction was higher in FT group. LWBS was decreased 53% and WT wasdecreased 54,9% in FT week. Morbidity and mortality rates remained unchanged.Conclusion: The FT decreased NEDOCS skore. It also improved EDeffectiveness (WTs and LOS) and quality measures (LWBS rates, patientsatisfaction).