The emergency department is the most common point of entry for people who need care, yet long wait times often also make it the center of hospital patient dissatisfaction.
And it's not only patients who are challenged by the realities of the often under overburdened, understaffed emergency departments. Clinicians are frustrated, too.
However, innovative programs and technology, especially artificial intelligence, are changing the way hospitals manage — and patients feel — about the entire emergency department experience. In addition, there are common sense solutions that can be implemented right away to improve patient experience.
For example, Lance Becker, MD, chair of Northwell Health's Department of Emergency Medicine in New Hyde Park, N.Y., told Becker's communication is one of the most important ways to manage chaos in the emergency department.
"Address long wait times head-on by saying, 'I know you have been waiting, and I want you to know that now I am here, and it is now your turn to get our full attention on you and how to care for you,'" Dr. Becker said.
At Cleveland Clinic, a physician works out of the triage area so orders can be initiated at the earliest possible time, Bradford Borden, MD, chair of the hospital's emergency services institute, told Becker's. This practice improved early access to diagnosis and treatment and reduced "left without being seen" numbers, as well.
Cleveland Clinic also has a dedicated patient scheduler pool that works to arrange follow-up appointments to prevent what Dr. Borden called "avoidable admissions."
Here are some recent initiatives hospitals have put in place in emergency departments to decrease clinician frustration, improve cost savings and efficiencies, and elevate patient experiences.
Partnering for success
Eric Handler, DO, chair of Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center's emergency medicine department, told Becker's the ED's LWBS average is almost zero and the time between a patient's arrival and seeing a physician is just under eight minutes.
The Livingston, N.J.-based hospital has achieved these numbers by working together. "Our boats are filled and everybody's rowing in the same direction," Dr. Handler told Becker's.
The various parts of the emergency team work closely with other departments — logistics, respiratory, radiology, the lab, environmental services and transport, the lab — to coordinate efforts and make sure patients move through the process as efficiently as possible.
Reduced wait times
Hackensack Meridian Health's Southern Ocean Medical Center in Manahawkin, N.J., reduced the average wait time to see a clinician in the emergency department from 22 minutes to seven minutes. The hospital moved from a "pull to full" model to a new initiative — "Pull to Infinity."
Resource management
Machine learning models are being created at Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare in an effort to predict patient flow and necessary resources to reduce wait times in emergency departments.
Improved patient flow
Healthcare systems are looking to artificial intelligence solutions to manage patient flow from the emergency department to inpatient care.
- At Penn Highlands Healthcare in DuBois, Pa., physicians use tech platforms to manage patients admitted to the hospital from the emergency department.
- AI software helps clinicians at Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic to handle the challenges associated with transferring patients from the ED to inpatient care.