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Varner discusses how the COVID-19 pandemic advances alternatives to hallway medicine Efforts to prevent the spread of COVID- 19 in Canadian hospitals have produced a surprising change in emergency departments: an abrupt end to hallway medicine Hospital corridors are no longer overflowing with stretchers Instead, social distancing in waiting areas, virtual emergency department visits, and a clear sight-line along every hallway have become the new normal Dr Andrea Unger, chief of emergency services at Brant Community Health in south-west Ontario, says overcrowding had become the status quo in many emergency departments before the pandemic The rules on how many patients they managed in the emergency department were always different from other areas of the hospital Delays in discharge, shortages of beds in hospitals and long-term care, and poor access to care in other parts of the health system all contributed to the seemingly intractable problem According to Unger, COVID-19 has been a wake-up call for hospital leaders
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