An Analysis of Daily Emergency Department Surge and its Relevance to Disaster Preparedness

Daily emergency department surges can cause crowding in facilities that do not have adequate physical and personnel resources to meet peak demands. The mismatch between surge and surge capacity results in ED crowding, thus indicating compromised daily ED capacity. This study aimed to analyze the daily ED visits and the relevance of this data in disaster preparedness at the Qassim hospital in Saudi Arabia.
This retrospective analytic study was conducted in the central hospitals of Buraidah City, including King Fahad Specialist Hospital (KFSH), Buraidah Central Hospital (BCH), and Maternity and Children’s Hospital (MCH) in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected from January 2017 to December 2018 using a specially designed data collection form. ED visit information such as visits per month, and per day, were collected.
During the study period, 311805 patients visited the King Fahad Specialist Hospital ED, 131071 patients visited the Maternity and Children’s Hospital ED, and 284693 patients visited the Buraida Central Hospital ED. The highest number of visits per month in 2017 was recorded at KFSH with 18,849 patients, while in 2018, it was at BCH with 11,983 patients. The mean number of ED visits per day and month was significantly different between the three hospitals in 2017 and 2018 (P <.001). A significant association was noted between visits per time of day and hospitals in 2018 (P <.0001).
This study suggests that overcrowding investigated during the selected period occurred less in 2018 compared to 2017 in KFSH due to a strict triage initiative. However, the problem of patient overcrowding in MCH and BCH still needs to be addressed.