After dozens of people overdosed in New Haven, Conn., in one day, a capacity coordination center ensured the responding emergency departments at Yale New Haven Hospital's two campuses did not overload, the New Haven Register reports.
The center, located in the Smilow Cancer Hospital, assured both hospitals shared the influx of patients. Some patients had overdosed, been discharged and overdosed again. Fewer than 10 of the overdosing patients were admitted.
The center "clearly was a huge asset as we transported 114 [cases] that were spread out over both hospitals as a part of the coordination and capacity of our new system," said Rick Fontana, New Haven's director of emergency operations.
When patients arrive at the ED, if they are admitted to the hospital, other parts of the coordination center are looped in, including nurses and other staff who can be assigned where needed, physicians who can discuss necessary care, staff who transport patients to their bed and staff who prepare the room.
Hospital officials credit the coordination center's success to technology use and more communication among all hospital departments.
"It's about improving the processes," said Maribeth Cabie, PharmD, director of the coordination center. "If I can get you from the ED to your bed in a more timely and efficient manner, your care starts earlier, and on the back end you're able to leave earlier. If I can even save 10 minutes in the ED … over the course of a year that becomes a significant amount of time."
The center uses Yale New Haven's EMR, Epic, which displays detailed information about patient population information, available beds, bed-cleaning time, transport time, quality and safety indicators as well as patients on their way to the hospitals, admitted patients and discharges and ambulances leaving.
While other hospitals track the number of patients entering the ED, "we spend more time thinking about patients that are here, as well as patients that are going home from here," said Robert Fogerty, MD, Dr. Cabie's physician partner at the center.