Meanings
- CanadauncountablemedicineA state of affairs in which patients are assigned to and treated in beds or gurneys located in hospital hallways due to a shortage of hospital rooms.
Further west, in Winnipeg, "hallway medicine" has become so routine that hallway stretcher locations have permanent numbers.
2000 January 16, James Brooke, “Full Hospitals Make Canadians Wait and Look South”, in New York Times, retrieved 22 Mar 20192 more examples
For the past month, the Regina General Hospital and the Pasqua Hospital in Regina have had more patients than beds, so hallway medicine is being practised in their emergency departments.
2011 November 2, Pamela Cowan, “Hallway medicine in congested ERs”, in Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Canada, retrieved 22 Mar 2019The premier's health platform commitments were to eliminate hallway medicine and increase long-term care beds and mental illness services.
2019 February 14, Bob Bell, “Are private home-care companies about to become more profitable?”, in The Star, Canada, retrieved 22 Mar 2019Synonyms: hallway health care, hallway hospitalization
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA state of affairs in which patients are assigned to and treated in beds or gurneys located in hospital hallways due to a shortage of hospital rooms.
Cite this entry
hallway medicine. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hallway%20medicine
“hallway medicine.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hallway%20medicine. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hallway medicine,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hallway%20medicine.
Source: hallway medicine on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.