Trends in Observation Care and the Growth of Dedicated Emergency Department Observation Units: An Analysis of the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2007-2022
From 2007 to 2022, there was a modest increase in observation care utilization but a substantial increase in the presence of EDOUs across US EDs. EDOUs also have a lower rate of subsequent inpatient admission. Future research should include observation stays when examining hospital care utilization and seeking to distinguish EDOU from other forms of observation care.
Authors
- Shih‐Chuan Chou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1474-927X)
- David A. Meguerdichian
- Andy H. Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4120-5005)
- Andrew Luo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8367-7185)
- Christopher W. Baugh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2360-1891)
Institutions
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- University of California System (US)
- Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open
- Published
- 2025-07-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acepjo.2025.100218
- Primary Topic
- Emergency and Acute Care Studies
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00