Throughout the past two years the Emergency Department Crowding and Access Block report (written by a Taskforce within the International Federation of Emergency Medicine) has been able to influence many objectives, such as furthering international discourse between emergency physicians, and the creation of a toolbox aimed to support ED’s that have become overcome with overcrowding and access block. Even with these developments however, many ED’s across the globe continue to operate at over-capacity (crowded space, understaffed) within their departments which prevents the delivery of timely and safe care to patients. Crowded departments cause preventable patient deaths or poor outcomes. The evidence on this is now clear. 

The factors contributing to overcrowding and access block are complex and multi-faceted which requires a persistent and coordinated response. In efforts to keep this important issue at the forefront of IFEM, there has been a decision to evolve this task force into a special interest group (SIG) within the Quality and Safety SIG. This organizational change ensures that the overcrowding and access block issue will remain relevant and current within the objectives of IFEM. With this transformation, the SIG plans to continue advocating for this topic and make measurable impacts within our global health care system. Watch this space for further news as IFEM advocates against the “normalisation” of operating over-capacity.

Tyara Marchand
Project Lead
Emergency Department Access Block and Overcrowding SIG