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Location: Indianapolis, IN
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Number of Emergency Department Visits Annually: Approximately 60,000
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Number of Beds: 230 licensed beds
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Ownership: Private, St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers
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Teaching Status: No
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St. Francis is a community hospital located in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the newest general hospital in the area and features the only full-service cardiac and vascular care program on the City's south side. The desire to shorten emergency department (ED) length of stay and improve patient satisfaction prompted the organization to become involved with Urgent Matters Learning Network II. “We represent community hospitals and the unique issues they face,” said Patty Heffner, RN, Manager, Emergency Services-Indianapolis Campus, and Project Director for Urgent Matters.
The support of senior administration at St. Francis has played a critical role in the success of the Urgent Matters project. Senior administration assisted with the project by providing resources and staff time, but, more importantly, the involvement of senior administration markedly increased their engagement with emergency department issues.
Prior to the involvement in Urgent Matters, St. Francis ran a Six Sigma project in the ED that facilitated the creation of a process for quality improvement and generated interest among ED staff. With a foundation and infrastructure in place, Heffner assembled her Urgent Matters team with the desire to share and learn from other hospitals and build upon the successes of previous quality improvement projects at St. Francis.
As part of Urgent Matters, St. Francis has established a standardized triage process and is working to educate and train ED staff on new polices and procedures. The new polices were designed collaboratively by ED staff and tested using rapid cycle change processes. This collaborative approach led to the development of informal leaders and improved communication between the ED and other hospital departments. Heffner cites the improved communications as one of the most successful outcomes of the hospital’s involvement with Urgent Matters. St. Francis plans to use the Urgent Matters structure in other quality improvement projects.
Urgent Matters has facilitated work between departments and between nursing and registration staff. The hospital’s left-without-being-seen rates have been steadily decreasing - currently around 1.5%. This is down from last year’s rates of approximately 3.5%. The St. Francis team is addressing the sustainability of the Urgent Matters project by creating an ED Workgroup to monitor and improve triage processes, and develop a training program for the new patient intake policies and processes.
St. Francis is dedicated to improving length of stay and patient satisfaction in their ED. They are currently working to ensure all ED staff have completed Triage First training and will continue to develop strategies to reach their comprehensive triage goal of 3-5 minutes.
