North Adams (Mass.) Regional Hospital has cut emergency department wait times by more than half in one month through Lean process improvements, according to an iBerkshires report.
The ED team adopted a Lean management approach to improving ED processes. One of the changes made was to shorten the triage process from a long series of questions to a 15-second triage, after which patients go directly to the treatment room.
The improvements began in August and have already decreased the average wait time from ED entrance to a room from 15 minutes to six minutes, and the average time from door to seeing a physician from 27 minutes to 19 minutes, according to the report.
The ED team will continue to use Lean to improve efficiency in the ED, the report stated.
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