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The following is a summary of “Key factors for sustainable working conditions in emergency departments: an EUSEM-initiated, Europe-wide consensus survey,” published in the February 2025 issue of Emergency Medicine by Weigl et al.
Modern emergency medicine (EM) was a demanding field where working conditions and provider well-being influenced sustainable emergency department (ED) environments.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to identify key factors influencing ED working conditions and the effects on healthcare provider well-being.
They carried out a Delphi survey with 18 experts from 6 European countries (Belgium, Finland, Germany, Italy, Romania, and the UK) representing small, medium, and large hospitals. All participants held leadership roles in EM. The process began with a literature review on ED working conditions. In the first round, structured interviews gathered insights on key working conditions and work-life factors, followed by importance ratings. Transcriptions were analyzed using a standardized protocol. In the second round, experts evaluated the relevance of consolidated factors and categorized them into ED work system elements, provider health outcomes, and work-life intervention strategies.
The results showed a near-consensus in 4 categories of ED work conditions, covering positive factors (e.g., job challenges, personal motivation, and case complexities) and negative factors (e.g., overcrowding, workflow interruptions/multitasking, and medical errors). Key adverse health outcomes included physical fatigue, exhaustion, and burnout. Intervention practices presented a wide range of possibilities, though agreement was limited.
Investigators concluded the work system conditions had exerted positive and negative effects on European ED provider work life, suggesting that improvement strategies should have focused on common system-related external stressors.
