Banned in Boston: Banning Ambulance Diversion Did Not Seem to Worsen ED Crowding

ED length of stay did not get longer, but some key outcomes were not assessed.

Ambulance diversion was banned in Boston in 2009. In a retrospective before-and-after study of data from nine Boston-area emergency departments (EDs), researchers determined whether the ban affected ED crowding.

The researchers used ED length of stay for admitted patients as a proxy for crowding, and compared average length of stay during the year before and the first year after the ban. Although aggregate monthly ED volume increased by 3.6%, length of stay for admitted patients decreased by an average of 10.4 minutes. Length of stay for discharged patients did not change, and ambulance turnaround time decreased by 2.2 minutes.

Reviewing Author

Daniel J. Pallin, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardPortola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Speaker’s BureauPeerView Institute for Medical Education

Grant/Research SupportAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality; CDC; NIH–National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences; NIH–National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); NIH–NIAID–Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group; Merck; Pfizer; Boehringer-Ingelheim; Shire; Portola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Novartis; bioMérieux; Siemens; Rapid Pathogen Screening; Magnolia; Stago; Innovative Biosensors; Molecular Detection, Inc.; Dyax Corp.; Trius Pharmaceuticals

Daniel J. Pallin, MD, MPH

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardPortola Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Speaker’s BureauPeerView Institute for Medical Education