Kent Hospital in Warwick, R.I., will become the first hospital in the state to stop diverting ambulances from its emergency room when it is at full capacity, according to a Providence Journal report.
The common practice among Rhode Island hospitals is to divert those ambulances away to other hospitals when the ER is full, according to the report. Hospital officials made the promise that a new "rapid-assessment" system will prevent bottlenecking, reduce long waits and allow its emergency room to accept every patient that is brought to the ER via ambulance.
The new rapid-assessment system is designed to keep patients moving through the process of care. This includes as moving ER patients to a separate area to free up that bed if they are waiting for test results. Since the system was implemented in July, the hospital has only had to divert an ambulance once, and the average time spent in the ER dropped from six hours to four hours, according to the report.
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The common practice among Rhode Island hospitals is to divert those ambulances away to other hospitals when the ER is full, according to the report. Hospital officials made the promise that a new "rapid-assessment" system will prevent bottlenecking, reduce long waits and allow its emergency room to accept every patient that is brought to the ER via ambulance.
The new rapid-assessment system is designed to keep patients moving through the process of care. This includes as moving ER patients to a separate area to free up that bed if they are waiting for test results. Since the system was implemented in July, the hospital has only had to divert an ambulance once, and the average time spent in the ER dropped from six hours to four hours, according to the report.
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