Camera helps triage nurse monitor available beds
Point an inexpensive camera at the grease board
For less than $500, your triage nurse can keep track of what beds are available on a real-time basis, without depending on other staff for updates. You might even be able to do it for free.
The idea comes from Marty Karpiel, FACHE, FHFMA, an emergency department operations and financial process improvement consultant in Long Beach, CA.
Many EDs are revising the role of the triage nurse to include immediate bed placement if a suitable bed is available, usually as part of a larger re-engineering or process improvement, he notes. But without an expensive bed-tracking system, such placement by the triage nurse usually is not possible.
"Instead of the $250,000 tracking system, consider the $500 alternative," Karpiel says. "Point a video camera at your grease board and place the monitor in triage. This way the triage nurse can determine if an appropriate bed is available for the patient."
That setup can cost as little as $200, depending on what type of camera and monitor you buy. You can use any type of video camera and monitor, because you don’t need exceptionally high quality for this purpose, he adds.
For about $200, you even can purchase a video baby monitor intended for home use, which comes with a camera and a small monitor that could be placed at the triage desk.
The arrangement has worked well for the ED at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, CA. Carol Rozner, RN, BSN, MICN, ED nurse manager, says they took the idea a step further and didn’t have to spend a dime on the monitoring.
They currently use the existing security system’s closed circuit television system to monitor the board. One of the security cameras in the ED already captured the board from where it was placed, so all they had to do was put a monitor at the triage desk and tune it to that particular camera," she explains.
"You can’t necessarily read the names on the board, but you can see whether there is a name there or not," Rozner says. "The triage nurse knows what bed is available and can bring patients back to an empty bed whenever possible."
The camera setup also allows the triage nurse to see what is happening at the nursing station, an added benefit since the triage nurse is isolated at a separate desk. And the nurses at the station have a monitor of their own that shows the triage station. Those views, combined with wireless phones, keep all the nurses in touch, she adds.
"We’ve had it in place for about a year, and it works great," Rozner says.
Sources
For more information on a camera in triage, contact:
- Marty Karpiel, President, Karpiel Consulting Group, 6475 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 402, Long Beach, CA 90803. Telephone: (562) 597-1108. E-mail: [email protected]. Web site: www.karpiel.net.
- Carol Rozner, ED Nurse Manager, Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, 501 S. Buena Vista, Burbank, CA 91505. Telephone: (818) 843-5111.
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