In recent years, there has been a steady rise in the number of emergency department (ED) patient visits in Sweden, and a high ED workload (crowding) is a growing problem in Sweden and internationally. ED crowding has been associated with a decrease in quality of care and an increased risk of adverse outcomes for patients, including increased mortality, mostly in the US. Data from Europe and the rest of the world are scarce. This project aims to develop workload (crowding) measures for the Swedish and European ED environment, and to analyze the relationship between workload, patient throughput and the quality of emergency care.
