title: Use of an ER audit to build recommendations for improving quality of care. Part I: Initial audit and recommendations.
abstract: This paper documents a complete audit of the Regina Health District's Emergency rooms. The issues examined were triage, non-urgent visits, waiting times, and information management. The results, presented in the two studies following, describe the initial audit and recommendations, as well as the follow-up research and subsequent recommendations. Our findings demonstrate how an audit can effectively monitor the functioning of the Emergency Room (ER) and provide data essential to continuous quality improvement.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research and Development, Regina Health District (RHD).
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hadjistavropoulos
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hardenne
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lochbaum
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Larrivee
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D019985:Benchmarking; D003625:Data Collection; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006300:Health Services Misuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D019451:Information Management; D008330:Management Audit; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012525:Saskatchewan; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000379:methods*; D014218:Triage; D014600:Utilization Review