OBJECTIVE: Overcrowding is an important issue facing many @entity341 ( @entity341 ). @entity616 (admitted @entity1 occupying @entity2613 stretchers) is a leading contributor, and expeditious placement of admitted @entity1 is an area of research interest. This review examined the effectiveness of full capacity protocols (FCPs) on mitigating @entity2613 . METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was undertaken to identify potentially relevant studies between 1966 and 2009. Intervention studies in which an @entity38366 was used to influence @entity2613 /hospital length of stay and @entity2613 /hospital access block were included as a single program or part of a systemwide intervention. Two reviewers independently assessed citation relevance, inclusion, study quality, and extracted data; because of limited data, pooling was not undertaken. RESULTS: From 14  446 potentially relevant studies, 2 abstracts from the same comparative study were included. From 29 studies on systemwide intervention, 4 contained an @entity38366 component. The included study was a single-center @entity2613 study using a before-after design; its methodological quality was rated as weak. One of the abstracts reported that an @entity38366 was associated with less @entity2613 length of stay (5-hour reduction) when compared with the comparison period; the other reported that an @entity38366 decreased @entity2613 and hospital access block (28% and 37% reduction, respectively). The @entity2613 triggers, format, and implementation of @entity38366 protocols varied widely. CONCLUSION: Although FCPs may be a promising alternative for overcrowded @entity341 , the available evidence upon which to support implementation of an @entity38366 is limited. Additional efforts are required to improve the outcome reporting of @entity38366 research using high-quality research methods.

The role of full capacity protocols on mitigating overcrowding in XXXX .

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity341 :: ('MESH:D004630', 'Disease') :: ['emergency departments', 'EDs'] @entity2613 :: ('MESH:C536181', 'Disease') :: ['ED overcrowding', 'ED'] @entity38366 :: ('2221', 'Gene') :: ['FCP'] @entity616 :: ('MESH:D006327', 'Disease') :: ['Access block']
@entity341 :: (MESH:D004630,Disease) :: ['EDs']
