In situations where there were more sick patients than hospital beds to accommodate them, it was cheaper and easier to house supernumerary patients in the ED than to devise appropriate inpatient solutions, so this became an accepted practice for almost all Canadian health care facilities
-where privacy, and access to basic clinical resources (cardiac monitor, oxygen, suction, call button etc) is absent
: (1) emergency care; (2) unscheduled urgent care; and (3) safety net care
Sudden influx in ill patients Example: Influenza Season
Phase 2 Several factors affect throughput times during this phase, including the cohesiveness of patient care teams, physical layout of the ED, nurse and physician staffing ratios, efficiency and use of diagnostic testing (eg, laboratory, radiology), accessibility of medical information, quality of documentation and communications systems, and availability of timely specialty consultation
One hospital activated reserve personnel as needed during the viral epidemic season, reducing the waiting time by 15 minutes and the rate of patients leaving without being seen by 37%.76