2024 holding the wall ajm
This is a published commentary in The American Journal of Medicine that defines and describes the phenomenon of “holding the wall” — when patients (and EMS) are delayed awaiting ED assignment/bed—linking it to ED overcrowding, increased boarding, worse patient outcomes, reduced EMS availability, and health inequities. The authors argue for system-level, data-driven solutions (predictive modeling, real-time analytics, telemedicine, dynamic load-balancing, process improvement) and improved stakeholder communication to mitigate boarding and restore ED throughput. The piece includes authorship, correspondence, declarations of no funding/conflicts, and seven bibliographic references.
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10.1016/j.amjmed.2024.12.030
Ebrahim Barkoudah, MD, MPH, MBA and Seth Gemme, MD
None.
None declared.
Ebrahim Barkoudah, MD, MPH, MBA (Baystate Medical Center, 759 Chestnut St, Springfield, MA 01199).