Here is the service guarantee offered by the emergency department (ED) at Dearborn, MI-based Oakwood Hospital Medical Center:
"Wait on the phone; wait in line; wait to download; wait for the mail; wait for the tax refund. Don’t wait to see a doctor. When you set foot in an Oakwood Emergency Room, we’ll make sure you see a doctor in 30 minutes or less. Every location, every time. In fact, if you’re not seen in 30 minutes or less, we’ll give you two free Star Theatres movie tickets and a letter of apology. The 30-minute guarantee — another medical breakthrough from Oakwood."
Here are process changes made after patient census increased dramatically in the ED:
— A dedicated observation unit managed by the ED was opened with 16 beds.
— A pre-admission form is filled out by the ED physician as soon as the patient is evaluated to expedite the admission and bed assignment process.
— A holding area was created for spare beds for the nursing units to access.
— Unreported available beds are monitored by an employee stationed at the discharge entrance who enters the information in the computer as a patient is discharged. Thus, staff in the bed control center, which controls all beds assigned in the hospital, knows that they can assign that bed to be cleaned.
— "No excuse" policy is enforced for the discharge time of 11 a.m., which impacts the ED by facilitating an expeditious discharge, so that the bed can be cleaned and assigned to another ED patient. The patient and family are supplied with transportation by ambulance, van, or taxicab, and a companion of the patient is sent home with the patient if he or she lives alone.
Here is the service guarantee offered by the emergency department at Dearborn, MI-based Oakwood Hospital Medical Center.
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