Peer pressure in an emergency department increased the rate of discharge and decreased length of stay, according to a study in The American Journal of Emergency Medicine.
Researchers studied throughput of nontraumatic adult patients who presented to a medical center ED between 7:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to Sunday for eight months in 2011. The researchers created peer pressure by announcing each emergency physician's patient discharge rate in monthly email reminders.
Before the email announcements — from June 1, 2011 to Sept. 30, 2011 — the eight-hour discharge rate was 48.2 percent. After the peer pressure intervention — from Oct. 1, 2011 to Jan. 30, 2011 — the discharge rate was 53.3 percent. The increased discharge rate was more pronounced for triage level III patients.
In addition, patients with a final discharge disposition had a length of stay of 140.4 minutes after the intervention compared with 158.3 minutes before intervention.
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Researchers studied throughput of nontraumatic adult patients who presented to a medical center ED between 7:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to Sunday for eight months in 2011. The researchers created peer pressure by announcing each emergency physician's patient discharge rate in monthly email reminders.
Before the email announcements — from June 1, 2011 to Sept. 30, 2011 — the eight-hour discharge rate was 48.2 percent. After the peer pressure intervention — from Oct. 1, 2011 to Jan. 30, 2011 — the discharge rate was 53.3 percent. The increased discharge rate was more pronounced for triage level III patients.
In addition, patients with a final discharge disposition had a length of stay of 140.4 minutes after the intervention compared with 158.3 minutes before intervention.
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