“The idea behind hallway placement is that you’re getting patients seen sooner, so they get through the system faster,” said Dr. Dilip. “I think our team was surprised when we found that wasn’t the case. As emergency physicians, we’re always trying to improve the wait times, but some of the challenges are out of our control.”

The findings have implications for ED operations and the ongoing boarding crisis. Dr. Dilip, who serves on the ACEP Ethics Committee, said the issue goes far beyond the emergency department itself.

“This isn’t an ED problem,” she said. “It’s a hospital problem. We can keep absorbing more and more patients, but at some point, the hospitals have to be the ones to relent. This is a systemic issue that needs meaningful change.”

The study underscores how boarding and crowding have reached breaking points nationwide.

By using advanced statistical modeling, the research offers a clearer picture of how hallway care impacts patient flow.

“Every year, we seem to reach a breaking point,” Dr. Dilip said. “Research like this helps us quantify what we’ve all experienced and, hopefully, push for the changes needed to truly fix the boarding crisis.”

ACEP Issues Statements on Tylenol, Vaccines and Non-Competes

In response to the Trump administration’s claim that Tylenol use during pregnancy can be linked to autism, ACEP issued a statement about the drug’s safety and effectiveness for use in the emergency department.

Acetaminophen is the most effective and safest first-line treatment for fever and acute pain in pregnant women who present to the emergency department, both of which can be harmful if left untreated, the College stated.

ACEP also weighed in on the use of high-quality, evidence-based vaccine schedules as an essential component of public health and patient safety. ACEP endorsed the most current consensus-based vaccine guidelines and schedules as developed and published by leading medical societies, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Cardiology, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

When vaccination rates decline, the effects are felt in emergency departments across the nation. Emergency physicians see firsthand the consequences of vaccine-preventable illnesses, which place added strain on already overburdened emergency care systems and put patients at increased risk of severe outcomes.

Non-compete agreements in health care restrict emergency physicians’ ability to choose a job, which can lead to workplace dissatisfaction and accelerate currently high rates of burnout. ACEP’s statement follows a consistent stance on the elimination of noncompete agreements in medicine.