Emergency Department Crowding and Diagnostic Safety: An Underrecognized Risk to Clinical Decision Making

Key Points

• This analysis aims to explore how crowding in emergency departments affects clinical decision-making and diagnostic accuracy.
• Review of existing literature on emergency department crowding and diagnostic errors
• Assessment of the relationship between boarding times and clinical decision making
• Increased crowding correlates with higher rates of diagnostic errors
• Longer boarding times negatively impact clinical judgment and patient safety