Patient Flow Enewsletter
Volume 1, Issue 5
Thursday, April 29, 2004

Survey Results
Six in 10 E-Newsletter Survey Respondents Cite Patient Flow as Number One Priority for Addressing ED Crowding

 In last month's E-newsletter, we surveyed the hospital community about issues affecting ED crowding at their institution and the level of interest from various hospital leadership to address the problem.

60% of survey respondents ranked hospital-wide patient flow as the number one priority to address ED crowding (See Table 1.1). Additionally, 93% of survey respondents ranked hospital-wide patient flow among their top three priorities. Other topics selected among the top three priorities included workforce shortages, reduction of preventable ED use, quality and patient safety, management of mental health and substance abuse, and access to specialty care (See Table 1.2).

With an average value of 4.8*, ED administration had the highest level of interest to improve patient flow and reduce ED crowding (See Table 1.3). Although there was some positive interest from CEOs and other senior hospital administrators, there is a significant gap between ED administration and other hospital leadership. From the work with our 10 Urgent Matters communities to date, it is clear that process improvement and hospital-wide patient flow cannot be successful without the support and buy-in from executive leadership and the medical staff.

Table 1.1 Most Relevant Issue Hospital Would Like to Address

	Percent
Hospital-wide patient flow	60.5
Quality and patient safety	11.5
Workforce shortages	9.3
Access to specialty care	7.0
Management of mental health and substance abuse	4.7
Reduction of preventable ED use	2.3
	100

Table 1.2 Issues Selected Among Top Three Priorities

	Frequency
Hospital-wide patient flow	93%
Workforce shortages	40%
Reduction of preventable ED use	40%
Quality and patient safety	37%
Management of mental health and substance abuse	30%
Access to specialty care	26%
Bioterrorism and hospital preparedness	14%
Other	7%
Insurance eligibility/enrollment	5%
Primary care coordination	5%
Stability of local safety net	5%

Table 1.3 Level of Interest with ED Crowding and Patient Flow

	Average
ED Administration	4.8
Senior Hospital Administration	3.8
Chief Executive Officer	3.7
Hospital Medical Staff	3.4
Board of Trustees	3.0

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