ED's paradigm shift cuts costs, improves quality.
The emergency department of Parkview Memorial Hospital, a 519-bed, VHA-affiliated acute care facility in Ft. Wayne, IN.


OBJECTIVE
The need to shorten waiting time, improve patient satisfaction, and reduce costs while maximizing the potential of a $9 million renovation. Also, the need to address emergent and urgent care with different processes and operations.


METHODS
Through benchmarking, staff initiated bedside registration on laptop computers; cross-trained and restructured to drastically reduce overtime and salary expenses while adding FTEs; and provided tools for training physicians and nurses to handle patients.


RESULTS
Wait time to see a doctor has declined by two-thirds. Cost per visit has dropped 12%, saving the department more than $422,000 in 1996. Satisfaction scores have almost doubled to 86%.
D017046:Cost Savings; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D006746:Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over; D006749:Hospital Design and Construction; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006801:Humans; D007196:Indiana; D007318:Inservice Training; D008332:Management Quality Circles; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration*