Tracing the Satisfactory Care of the Chronically Ill in Emergency Departments: A Scoping Review.
Eleni Naki, Agapi L Batiridou, Christine Mantzouka and 3 others
PMID 42318858WHAT IT FOUND
For adults with chronic illness, ED care was considered satisfactory when pain relief, communication, respect and follow-up were timely.
Waiting, fragmented discharge and stigma undermined it. Team-based transition support may help, but effectiveness was not tested.
Key findings
01For adults with chronic illness, satisfactory ED care was described as timely pain relief, clear communication, respect and dignity, continuity across settings and involvement in decisions.
02Barriers to satisfactory care included overcrowding, time constraints, fragmented communication, poorly managed transitions, inadequate training, stigma, staff burnout and poor teamwork.
03The review grouped the evidence into four themes: health systems, ED use and care transitions, interdisciplinary collaboration, and barriers to service delivery.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This is a scoping review, so it maps what has been studied and does not show that any ED intervention works or causes better outcomes. Only English-language studies from 2013 to 2024 were searched, and nursing-specific databases such as CINAHL were not included. The included studies covered different chronic illnesses and ED systems, and COPD and other respiratory or blood disorders were overrepresented. Only 15 studies met the inclusion criteria, and the review did not test specific care models.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as proof that nurse navigator roles, telehealth or geriatric ED models improve outcomes. It is a scoping review of patient experiences and system factors, and it did not test effectiveness.