title: Multifaceted approach keeps patients flowing.
abstract: If your ED's volume is steadily rising, chances are you won't be able to maintain smooth patient flow with a single strategy. The managers of the ED at Middle Tennessee Medical Center have maintained impressive door-to-doc times by pursuing a strategy of constantly implementing new processes to speed patient flow. These processes include: having the lab hire a phlebotomist specifically for the ED, to ensure the efficient transmission of lab tests orders and results; adding point-of-care testing for more common and time-consuming screenings such as creatinine and pregnancy urine tests; installing a system that enables the staff to receive wireless EKGs from the field.
mesh_terms: D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015274:Interdepartmental Relations; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D018962:Phlebotomy; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D013714:Tennessee; D017749:Total Quality Management