Emergency Department Boarding Stories

"Our facility has been extremely impacted by employee shortages in many specialities, especially nursing. This has led to an immense crisis of boarding admitted patients in our Emergency Department beds. Not only do the patients boarded in an Emergency Department suffer as they await care best delivered on an in-patient ward, but those in need of emergency care suffer as they await the availability of staff and a place to be seen.

Not only do the patients boarded in an ED suffer...but those in need of emergency care suffer as they await the availability of staff and a place to be seen.

We have seen critically ill patients languishing in the waiting room or on EMS stretchers because there is nowhere for them to be seen. Meanwhile, beds on the inpatient wards remain empty because there are no staff to provide care. This crisis is negatively impacting the health of our Nation. I fear that unless a solution is soon reached, our current workforce of nurses and other hospital staff will burnout from the load they are having to bear and will join the ranks of America's workers looking for employment elsewhere."