Table 1.

Search strategy.

Search Strategy	Details
Search string	(Emergency Department [MeSH Terms]) AND (Overcrowding) OR (Crowding)(Overcrowding) AND (ED) OR (Emergency Department)
Databases	PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Cochrane, and Google Scholar
Inclusion criteria	(1) research articles with quantitative details and information on the relationship between the causes that lead to overcrowding in Emergency Departments and the consequences that this phenomenon entails; (2) articles describing possible strategies already adopted or adoptable in the future to address the effect that overcrowding has on the Emergency Department were considered; (3) all kinds of study designs and reviews
Exclusion criteria	Items not directly pertinent to the query string and articles not containing sufficient information on the relationship between Overcrowding and Emergency Department Study design: editorial, commentaries, expert opinions, letters to editor, and abstracts
Time filter	None (from inception)
Language filter	Only Italian and English articles