ED Management – January 1, 2006
January 1, 2006
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CPOE: It’s not a matter of if, but when, say the experts, so the time to prepare is now
Its going to come to every ED, warns Sarah Vogel, MD, FACEP, ED director at Albany (NY) Memorial Hospital. You have two choices, Vogel says. You can get proactively involved with [information systems] and administration and choose the best system for you, or you can hide under your protocols. -
Atypical patient profiles common after disasters
ED managers recognize the need to prepare their departments for a huge surge of patients in the wake of a disaster in the community. What some of them may not be as well prepared for is the very unique distribution of complaints and patient types that will present in such situations, experts warn. -
JCAHO offers emergency management suggestions
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has published a series of tips for facilities preparing for and responding to emergency situations. The tips include: -
To cut diversions, get other units involved
By addressing ED problems as hospitalwide problems, the ED leadership at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville, MD, has reduced ambulance diversions by 72%, reduced average length of stay by 25 minutes (from 397 to 372), and boosted patient satisfaction from 3.96 to 4.11 on a scale of 1-5. Also, the number of patients boarded in the ED has dropped from an average of 190 per month to 120 per month. -
Tiered structure helps ED improve flow, satisfaction
Between 2001 and 2005, average length of stay in the ED at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago has dropped from 85 minutes to 45 minutes. Throughput has fallen from 308 minutes to 230 minutes during the same period. In addition, patient satisfaction (Press Ganey Associates, South Bend, IN) scores have increased from 74.6% to 84%. -
2-pronged approach improves pain recording
An intensive staff education program and a targeted revision of medical charting has enabled the pediatric ED at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill-Cornell Medical Center in New York City to boost pain score documentation from 7.4% before the intervention to 38.2% after its implementation. -
EMTALA Q & A: Inpatients in the ED: Caught between two worlds
Question: The ED is the melting pot of the hospital, treating all clinical needs and all society strata. In the midst of this mixture are patients transitioning from outpatient status to the inpatient setting, many of whom stay in the ED for hours waiting for an available bed. -
JCAHO unveils 2006 fixed performance areas
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has announced that for random unannounced surveys conducted in 2006, the fixed performance areas for hospitals are: assessment and care/service, medication management; patient safety; and the 2006 National Patient Safety Goals that are applicable to the services provided by the hospital.