Overcrowding in Hospitals

Over the years, one of the biggest problems that have come to plague hospitals is that of access block and overcrowding. The result has been that there has been a negative effect on developed countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Access block involves a situation where patients are unable to access beds within eight hours of presentation in the emergency department (Chan et al., 2015). This is an extremely serious situation because it involves a situation where there is essentially a failure in the process of making sure that there is not only efficient healthcare provision, but also the achievement of better patient outcomes. Overcrowding in hospitals has the potential of leading to a significant crisis because healthcare providers are under increased pressure to make sure that they provide quality services to as many people as possible. Cases of overcrowding have grown over the years mainly because of an increase in the number of patients that are admitted to hospitals while the number of nursing staff has essentially remained the same. A consequence of this situation has been that there has been a considerable reduction in the quality of care in hospitals, and this has required that new strategies for the advancement of patient interests are developed. Overcrowding has brought a situation where it is necessary to make sure that there is the creation of better means through which to provide services efficiently while at the same time helping the swift movement of patients in hospitals.

Overcrowding in hospitals is mainly caused by an increase in the number of people that need help in the emergency room. It has led to a situation where there is a constant need for beds which has essentially forced a slowdown in the process of service delivery. It has also led to a situation where it has become essential to advance the need to not only expand services, but also create better means through which to ensure that patients are provided with services as swiftly as possible. The burden of caring for patients waiting for beds often falls on nurses and this makes them not to provide as much attention as needed for other patients. Overall, there are a considerable number of people who need beds in hospitals and the situation has grown to such an extent that about 40% of patients in the emergency room are forced into situations where they have to wait for hours before they gain access (Chan et al., 2015). It is also likely that the outcomes of admitted patients is negatively affected because foremost, they are left in situations where they do not have sufficient care, because most of available nurses are taking care of patients in the emergency room. The case of staff exhaustion can be a significant cause of a reduction of good patient outcomes because there is very few nursing staff that are available for all patients. Therefore, the adoption of strategies aimed that advancing an end to overcrowding in hospitals is necessary to make sure that patients are able to attain good services.

Overcrowding is detrimental to the morale of nurses because they are forced into scenarios where they have to divide their time among numerous patients. Furthermore, there are instances where the supervision of junior doctors is hampered because most of the patients involved are not able to access the most essential services that are required through attaining beds in hospitals. It is essential to make sure that there is the advancement of means through which to help patients get the most essential care through the expansion of ward rooms in hospitals as well as the employment of more nurses so that they can be able to provide the services needed for patients. Overcrowding is an unacceptable condition in hospitals and there is the necessity to advance the creation of strategies aimed at bringing about patient satisfaction through the rapid provision of services. There is a need to ensure that there is a reduction of primary care attendance in the emergency department in order to bring about a situation where there is the achievement of the relative reduction of overcrowding. Moreover, the fast-tracking of dealing with minor injuries is essential in making sure that there is the advancement of rapid services to prevent overcrowding and helping to advance the need to prevent overcrowding. There has been a large surge of demand for hospital beds which has led to the development of means through which there is an increase of bed capacity so that the overcrowding issue can be dealt with efficiently.