Here is what Balanced Score Card measures

Here is what is measured by the emergency department at Portsmouth-based Southern Ohio Medical Center with the use of a Balanced Score Card:

• unscheduled returns to ED within 72 hours;
• unscheduled returns to ED admitted;
• patients in the ED more than six hours;
• ED X-ray report discrepancies requiring change in patient management;
• patients who leave the ED before completion of treatment;
• presentation to thrombolysis;
• average door-to-doctor time;
• percentage of patients registered at the bedside;
• average throughput time;
• patient satisfaction (overall, nurses, and physicians);
• patient complaints;
• staffing budgeted compared with actual FTEs;
• hours staff are absent;
• staffing turnover rates;
• number of ED physicians living in the community;
• number of ED physicians attending medical staff meetings;
• patient volume;
• financial performance: gross margin.

Here is how the data for the score card are collected:

• The performance improvement team collects data from chart reviews.
• Nursing staff count unscheduled returns to the ED within 72 hours.
• Times are tracked for each patient visit using a computerized "ED Log" (manufactured by Stockell Healthcare Systems in Chesterfield, MO).
• Turnaround time numbers are entered manually on patient charts by nursing staff, and logged by the unit clerk.