SurgeCon: An Emergency Department Surge Management Platform

Wait times and overcrowding are challenging emergency departments (EDs) around the world. Several countries with advanced healthcare systems cannot keep pace with patient demand, and Canada ranks among the longest wait times compared to peer-industrialized countries. In fact, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) identified an 11% increase in ED wait times from 2015-2016 to 2016-2017. This translates to long wait times that deter patients from pursuing necessary care and increases their likelihood of leaving without being seen by an ED physician. In Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), this issue has precipitated strikingly serious situations regarding long wait times that have made the province a case-in-point for ED issues. To counter this, the investigators propose an innovative quality-improvement intervention called SurgeCon that includes a protocol-driven software platform and several other initiatives to reduce wait times and improve the sustainability of health systems without significant workforce changes. The investigators piloted SurgeCon at the ED in Carbonear, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) and found there was a 32% reduction in ED wait time.

NCT Number	NCT04789902
Lead Sponsor	Memorial University of Newfoundland Collaborators: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Eastern Health, Trinity Conception Placentia Health Foundation
Conditions	Length of Stay, Emergency Departments
Enrollment	436,052 participants
Start Date	2021-01-01
Primary Completion	2024-08-31 (estimated)
Study Completion	2026-03-31 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2025-10-01