Patient Flow Enewsletter
Volume 1, Issue 4
Tuesday, March 2, 2004
In this Issue
:- Perspectives: Adopt a Boarder
- Survey: How Important is Patient Flow and ED Crowding?
- Best Practices: Rapid Cycle Change Increases ED Capacity
- Innovations: How Technology is Reaching Diverse Communities
Perspectives
Adopt a Boarder
We've become accustomed to seeing "boarders" lining the hallways of EDs across the country. Yet, if there is a shortage of available inpatient beds, why must patients be held in the ED hallways? Why not in the hallways of the inpatient units? A few hospitals have embraced this concept of moving patients upstairs, called "Adopt a Boarder." With the new JCAHO standards on patient flow, now is the time to consider new approaches.
Survey
How important is patient flow and ED crowding to various members of your hospital leadership? What are the three most relevant issues your institution would like to address? What types of learning formats will best enable your institution to address these issues? Take our survey and see how you compare. Results will be posted in next month's issue.
Best Practices
Rapid Cycle Change Can Help Increase ED Capacity
Making operational changes to combat the growing challenge of patient overcrowding can be daunting -- even when those changes are in the name of progress and improvement. Using rapid cycle testing methods, David A. Hnatow and the team at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center implemented a number of small changes to their protocols, procedures and patient discharge processes. The first observation and suggestion for improved efficiency actually came from the housekeeping staff.
Site Interview
How Technology is Helping to Improve Outcomes and Reaching Diverse Communities
Providing emergency care to more than one million patients a year is a daunting task. With 40 percent of the population foreign-born and more than 100 different languages and dialects spoken, the task becomes even more challenging. Born and raised in Manhattan, Dr. Chu has made providing health care to people with wide social, ethnic, linguistic and cultural differences, his life's work. And in recent years, he's increasingly turning to technology to help bridge the legendary communications gap between patients and health care providers.
Innovations
Reducing ED Boarder Hours and Volume by Engaging Non-ED Staff
The team at Inova Health System -- a four-hospital, not-for-profit health care system located outside of Washington, DC -- took a novel approach to addressing the challenge of emergency department (ED) boarders. They hosted a two-day, off-site retreat involving physicians, registered nurses, registration staff, lab technicians, information systems staff and even volunteers. In order to meet an ambitious goal of reducing boarder volume and hours by 50 percent, they needed staff system-wide to view boarders as their boarders, their patients, their problem -- not just the ED's.
