Emergency department enlargement in China: Exciting or bothering

Background: Emergency department (ED) enlargement became a trend with its development. However, there came some problems such as ED overcrowding and increasing medical disputes. Here we did a survey about the development tendency of EDs in 3A grade hospitals in China, analysed the problems we facing and rendered some solutions combining some special characteristics in China. Methods: We randomly selected 17 3A grade general hospitals from 12 provinces from the 50 members of Chinese College of Emergency Physician. A questionnaire survey was conducted. The basic information and problems of EDs were collected and analysed. Results: The gross area, the number of beds and the attention paid by the hospitals of EDs increased during the development, so did the patients admitted to EDs, also more doctors and nurses devoted into emergency medicine. But it had become more difficult for doctors to admit ED patients to inpatient wards. Besides the problem of increasing crowding degree, EDs faced more medical disputes and complains during the development. Conclusions: ED expanding was the result of emergency medicine development, but the enlargement of ED should be more rational. We should improve our doctors' medical skills, optimize the health system, pay more attention to preventive medicine and push hard for health-care reform instead of forcing ED enlargement to satisfy the need for ED.