Letter/Communication
Reframing ED Boarding Through a Human Factors Sociotechnical Systems Lens
Journal of patient safety
10 Apr 2026
PMID: 41960648
Featured in Collection : Drexel's Newest Publications
Abstract
Emergency department (ED) boarding, defined as holding admitted patients in the ED while awaiting an inpatient bed or transfer, is a persistent problem associated with longer lengths of stay, treatment delays, reduced care quality, and increased in-hospital mortality. Although interventions such as fast-track protocols, EHR tools, and policy mandates seek to reduce boarding, they often target isolated issues and yield inconsistent results due to limited integration and cross- departmental coordination. Thus, ED boarding must be viewed not merely as an operational ED issue but as a hospital-wide throughput challenge shaped by multiple sociotechnical factors affecting patient safety. [1st paragraph]
Metrics
1 Record Views
Details
- Title
- Reframing ED Boarding Through a Human Factors Sociotechnical Systems Lens
- Creators
- Woosuk Seo - Yale UniversityRaj M. Ratwani - MedStar Health National Center for Human Factors, Washington, DC, Department of Emergency Medicine Georgetown University School of Medicine Washington, DCJesse M. Pines - Drexel University, Emergency MedicineEdward R. Melnick - Yale University
- Publication Details
- Journal of patient safety
- Resource Type
- Letter/Communication
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Emergency Medicine
- Other Identifier
- 991022180003104721