On Wednesday, ENA President Chris Dellinger shared the following message on the association's commitment to finding solutions to the boarding crisis.

You don’t need to have decades of experience in the emergency department to understand the seriousness of the ongoing boarding crisis.

Patients waiting for hours, sometimes days, in the ED for an inpatient bed or a transfer to more specialized care suffer a negative impact on their health and well-being, and it also puts additional stress on already strained emergency care teams.

I’ve seen the evolution of what leads to boarding and the challenges caused by it throughout my 30 years in the ED, and I’m proud to say ENA has stayed consistently focused and active in identifying the practical and legislative answers to this problem.

Recently, I represented ENA and all emergency nurses during a summit hosted by the U.S.  Department of Health and Human Services and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. More than 100 expert clinicians, hospital leaders and policymakers gathered in Washington, D.C., with a goal to identify hospital and health system-level solutions to boarding – and I was particularly honored to be part of a panel discussion during which I shared the negative impacts boarding has on the work environment for emergency nurses and the care provided to patients.

A partial recording of the summit is now available for everyone to view, and AHRQ expects to release full report on the summit’s findings in early 2025.

Participation in the summit is just another example of ENA’s commitment to being a leader in driving positive and systemic change on this issue. In recent years, ENA has taken a holistic approach to boarding by looking at the practical factors and remedies, as well as the potential policy solutions.

Federal legislation focused on access to mental health services, injury prevention resources and improving staffing levels are key to addressing the causes of boarding. Through conversations with members of Congress and participation in several events, ENA – in conjunction with its partners at AHRQ and the American College of Emergency Physicians – has increased awareness about the boarding crisis with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

For emergency nurses and ED leaders, ENA’s practice resources provide access to tools and guidance on ways to continue delivering the best care possible despite the challenges boarding presents on a daily basis in many emergency departments.

Although ENA is the leading voice for emergency nurses and advocates strongly on issues impacting emergency departments, it understands patient boarding is not an issue exclusive to EDs. ENA and its summit partners agree boarding is a symptom of much broader challenges facing the health care system in the United States and that any solutions must involve changes to access and delivery of care beyond the emergency department.

Today, and every day, ENA is committed to its work, and the partnerships that further its work, to develop and enact changes to reduce boarding and ensure all patients have access to high quality and timely care.

ENA President Chris Dellinger

Visit ENA University to find practice resources related to boarding. Also, check out the recent ENA-hosted boarding webinar, and don’t forget Emergency Nursing 2024 Digital Access offers recordings of several sessions focused on boarding. Log in to the ENA Events app or register for Digital Access today.