After lowering its traditional emergency department capacity and shifting those beds to observation unit service, Newark, N.J.-based University Hospital has improved its patient capacity, according to a report from The Star-Ledger.
Prompted by patient complaints, state inspectors had cited the hospital for square foot capacity violations during the summer of 2013. The hospital received orders to reduce ED overcrowding. In response, they created the plan for the observation unit.
"Everyone who comes into the emergency department gets a full evaluation, and they may get admitted or treated and released," Barbara Hurley, a hospital spokeswoman, said in the report. "But rather than occupying a bed or a bay in the ED, patients who are waiting for tests would be transferred to the observation unit, which is a less hectic and more relaxed environment."
The unit is now two weeks old and treats patients who are not in crisis but who are not ready to return home. While hospital officials were initially worried about an adequate nursing presence, the operation appears to be working smoothly, according to the report.
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