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Emergency department overcrowding: the solution to any problem is a matter of relativity

George Braitberg
Med J Aust 2012; 196 (2): . || doi: 10.5694/mja12.10044
Published online: 6 February 2012

Is the 4-hour rule achievable — and beneficial — in our current system of health care?

Albert Einstein is famously thought to have said that insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.1


  • 1 Southern Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 2 Emergency Medicine, Southern Health, Melbourne, VIC.



Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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  • 14. Sprivulis PC, Da Silva JA, Jacobs IG, et al. The association between hospital overcrowding and mortality among patients admitted via Western Australian emergency departments. Med J Aust 2006; 184: 208-212. <MJA full text>

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