2026-09-18T20:43:58Zhttps://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/server/oai/request

oai:null:10339/385622026-04-21T21:00:00Zcom_10339_14934col_10339_38132

Brassard, Kimberly Lynn 2013-06-06T21:19:36Z 2013-06-06T21:19:36Z 2013 https://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/handle/10339/38562 Emergency Department (ED) crowding, defined as "an extreme volume of patients in ED treatment areas, forcing the ED to operate beyond its capacity" has become a public health crisis in the United States. ED crowding can lead to compromised care which threatens the moral values medicine has been built upon (Cowan and Trzeciak 2005). This thesis offers a brief history of the development of hospital based EDs to demonstrate the origins of ED crowding, then moves on to analyze the moral dilemmas posed by crowding. It examines the causes of ED crowding and potential solutions to the issue, and concludes with brief remarks about how the health care system might be reformed to alleviate the burden of crowded EDs. en Wake Forest University Emergency Department Crowding Emergency Medicine Ethics Medical Ethics Public Health Moral Implications of Emergency Department Crowding Thesis Moskop, John Hyde, Michael Zelman, Stacie Bioethics open.access