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.
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