How Does Overcrowding Impact Hospitals?
Overcrowding in hospitals effect patients through inefficiency, the spread of infection, longer hospital stays and also increases the workload for health care staff. Filled-to-capacity hospitals present numerous challenges and problems to the staff; congested hallways, scarcity of rooms, overbooked tests and health care workers under enormous stress affect the quality of patient care.
Risk of depression
“Nurses who work in hospital wards that are usually filled to capacity may have a higher risk of depression than their counterparts in less-crowded hospitals,” states a Reuter's Health article. Also, the likelihood of patients being exposed to infections rises. “Overcrowding may compromise patients' care — increasing their odds of infection,” the article states.
MRSA
MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) is a type of bacteria resistant to antibiotics. The Western Daily Press reports that “thousands of patients are at increased risk of contracting MRSA and other ‘superbugs’ because of hospital overcrowding.” Once a patient has contracted MRSA, a cycle begins that makes overcrowding increase because patients with MRSA usually have longer hospital stays.
Access block
The Medical Journal of Australia warns of other serious problems associated with overcrowding. “Hospital overcrowding causing 'access block' — a lack of available inpatient beds for emergency department patients — remains a major impediment to the delivery of good health care both in Australia and overseas.” The article states that causing elderly or disabled patients to wait in hallways, confused, tired and with little privacy, “is inhumane.”
Clostridium difficile
Yet another superbug, known as C. diff, is thought to be growing due to hospital overcrowding. Patients in hospitals or long-term-care facilities seem most vulnerable to this superbug.
According to the Mayo Clinic, hospitals are prime places for spreading C. diff because “germs spread easily, antibiotic use is common, and people are especially vulnerable to infection. In hospitals and nursing homes, C. difficile spreads mainly on the hands of caregivers, but also on cart handles, bedrails, bedside tables, toilets, sinks, stethoscopes, thermometers — even telephones and remote controls.”
