Per a court order, HHS is required to restore this website to its version as of 12:00 AM on January 29, 2025. Information on this page may be modified and/or removed in the future subject to the terms of the court’s order and implemented consistent with applicable law. Any information on this page promoting gender ideology is extremely inaccurate and disconnected from truth. The Trump Administration rejects gender ideology due to the harms and divisiveness it causes. This page does not reflect reality and therefore the Administration and this Department reject it.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Improving Patient Flow and Reducing Emergency Department Crowding: A Guide for Hospitals

About this resource:

HHS Non-systematic Review

Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2012

Last Reviewed: July 2018

Workgroups: Access to Health Services Workgroup

This guide gives step-by-step instructions to help hospitals plan for and implement patient flow improvement strategies to reduce crowding in emergency departments. It covers the need to address emergency department crowding, explains how to form a patient flow team, and provides guidance for identifying and launching different strategies.

Read more about this resource

Objectives related to this resource (1)

Reduce the proportion of emergency department visits with a longer wait time than recommended — AHS‑09
Little or no detectable change

Suggested Citation

1.

McHugh, M., VanDyke, K., McClelland, M., & Moss, D. (2012). Improving patient flow and reducing emergency department crowding: a guide for hospitals (AHRQ Publication No. 11(12)-0094). Retrieved from https://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/final-reports/ptflow/index.html