Emergency Department Boarding Stories

"We have for the last two years constantly held more than half of our beds with boarder patients. At peak times which occur up to five days per week, we have more patients boarding than we have staffed beds. High numbers have included last week when our 22 bed emergency department had 35 boarders and an additional 20 patients in the waiting room. Longest boarding time this month was over 200 hours with averages around 70 hours per patient.

In addition, we have patients who unfortunately have died in our waiting room while awaiting treatment. These deaths were entirely due to boarding. Our boarding numbers have unfortunately skyrocketed in the wake of COVID as a consequence of increasing surgical volumes and decreasing inpatient nurse staffing. Our tertiary care center is crippled with no end in sight."