ED/hospitalist plan improves throughput.
An ED leader and the head hospitalist at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, jointly developed a new plan for admitting patients from the ED that has decreased ED throughput for admitted patients 98 minutes (from 458 minutes to 360 minutes) from the same period a year earlier, despite an 8.8% increase in the ED census. Here are some of the keys: A hospitalist, with the treating ED physician, makes the final decisions for admitting ED patients to the cardiac ICU; the medical ICU; and the cardiology, pulmonary, and general medicine units. The rotating position, covered 24/7, also has responsibility for bed management. Objections of specialists in other departments were overcome by giving them input.
D015142:Baltimore; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D020445:Hospitalists; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D010343:Patient Admission