Here’s what ED staff can see at a glance
At Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, an ED "dashboard" (see example) is visible to all staff responsible for patient flow. Here is an explanation of what the screen depicts:
- TID = length of time the patient has been in the ED;
- Rm = the room the patient is in. Color of room number indicates the team caring for the patient;
- AS = age and sex of patient (blue for male, pink for female);
- Name = patient’s initials (for patient confidentiality);
- CC = chief complaint. The color indicates triage acuity (red = 2, green = 3, blue = 4);
- XR = status of X-rays are pending. Color turns green when X-rays are complete (C = CT scan, M = MRI, U = Ultrasound);
- L: status of lab tests. Color turns green when all tests are complete and turns red if there is a critical value;
- Att = the attending caring for the patient;
- Res = resident caring for the patient;
- Nur = the nurse caring for the patient;
- Dsp: disposition. A yellow "R" means a bed was requested, a green "A" means a bed was assigned, and the "A" turns red if a bed has been assigned for too long; some of the beds show "available," others "require cleaning."
Other possibilities include "blocked" if a bed is held for trauma, "expect" if a bed is being held for an ambulance call, or "requires registration" if an unregistered patient is present in the room. (Registration can prioritize by acuity and come to the room with a wireless cart.)
At the bottom, there is the time, the number of patients in the waiting room (color coded to turn green at less than 5, yellow at 5-10, and red at more than 10), the number of patients in the department (26), the number in observation (0), number admitted (0) and number waiting for beds (3) as well as the volume since midnight (58).
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