The Effect of Emergency Department Boarding on Order Completion.

Study Objective: We identify differences in the process of care for admitted patients who board in the emergency department (ED) compared with admitted patients who are transferred to an inpatient care area.

Methods: This is a retrospective study of a random sample of adult patients admitted through the ED at one urban teaching hospital. Patients who boarded in the ED for at least 6 hours after the decision to admit were matched to similar control patients.