Evaluating Surge Capacity in the Emergency Department: A Comprehensive Literature Review on Preparedness and Response Frameworks

Medical surge capacity in emergency departments is influenced by four critical factors: staff, stuff, space, and systems. Understanding these factors and the interplay between them is critical. Emergency departments are increasingly encountering issues with overcrowding, patient boarding, and medical surge events causing interruptions in care and depleting critical resources. Coordination of medical surge is challenging during normal operations but is intensified during times of crisis. This comprehensive literature review seeks to better understand the current state of the literature surrounding surge preparedness and response in emergency departments across the United States, identify gaps in the current literature, and ultimately recommend avenues for further investigation to enhance medical surge in the emergency department setting and improve community public health. This comprehensive literature review investigates a variety of topics related to emergency department surge capacity through a systematic review of current research. The review will focus on preparedness and response frameworks, which encompass the identification of surges and the strategic distribution of resources. This analysis seeks to evaluate current recommendations for surge capacity preparedness and response in the emergency department setting, identify metrics for early surge detection, and better understand tools used to effectively manage emergency department resources. This review seeks to help portray the current state of emergency department medical surge literature, identify gaps in current knowledge, and recommend best practices to increase medical surge capabilities in the emergency department setting. A detailed protocol with established search strategies as well as inclusion and exclusion criteria will be employed for this comprehensive literature review to select a comprehensive collection of relevant studies without bias. The articles included for review will be organized systematically and analyzed for main themes, trends, and knowledge gaps about factors influencing surge capacity. A quality analysis for each of the articles included in this review will be performed and documented. This comprehensive literature review seeks to identify methods that enhance emergency department surge preparedness and response. The findings of this comprehensive literature review aim to provide a foundational understanding of the factors affecting medical surge capabilities in the emergency department setting. Ultimately, this review seeks to guide areas for further investigation to fill identified knowledge and evidence gaps in the literature. In addition, this review seeks to recognize current recommendations for increasing medical surge capacities in the emergency department setting. This comprehensive literature review surrounds a topic critical not only to emergency department operations but also to community public health.