Grant: Knowledge Synthesis Grant

Emergency Departments (ED) overcrowding is a system-wide, multi-factorial problem within the Canadian health care system. During the last decade, with the restructuring and regionalization of the Canadian health system, an aging population, under-supply of health human resources and other factors, ED overcrowding has become the most challenging issue currently facing emergency care providers and one of the most important issues in health care delivery. We have previously completed reviews examining interventions to reduce ED overcrowding; however, newer methods and evidence need to be incorporated into updated reviews. The objective of this proposal is to continue the preliminary work started in 2005 by updating and maintaining a repository of Systematic Reviews regarding interventions to reduce ED overcrowding. Using comprehensive and established search strategies, and using established methods to avoid publication and selection bias, we will select all available evidence from clinical reports on interventions to reduce ED overcrowding. Following inclusion decisions, we will grade the manuscripts for risk of bias, extract and enter data; when possible, we intend to pool data and examine heterogeneity through sub-group and sensitivity analyses. This work will provide clinicians, health authorities and policy makers experiencing serious ED overcrowding with an opportunity to base their clinical and administrative decisions on the best available evidence.