Safety

Don’t put patients in egress halls when ED overcrowds

Healthcare Life Safety Compliance, July 1, 2009

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Those who plan to move patients into exit corridors when routine emergency department (ED) overcrowding occurs may want to reconsider, given what a Joint Commission official said about the matter.
Patients on gurneys and chairs cannot be parked in egress corridors because of Life Safety Code® (LSC) requirements for minimum clear widths, George Mills, FASHE, CEM, CHFM, senior engineer at The Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO), said during a Joint Commission Resources audio conference May 6.
Even if state regulators order healthcare facilities to get patients out of EDs and hold them in inpatient unit corridors, The Joint Commission doesn’t feel this is the best approach, Mills said.
Instead, facility managers and ED directors should review ED traffic flow and come up with better ways to manage overcrowding.

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Healthcare Life Safety Compliance.

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