Process changes cut LOS by 100 minutes.
Even if you're fortunate enough to have a new state-of-the-art ED, that doesn't guarantee optimal results in smoother patient flow. As the team at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC, found out, it also requires processes that make the most of the space you have. Here are some of the strategies that helped them reduce average turnaround time (which they define as the time from patient arrival time to patient discharge) from 135 minutes to 73 minutes: A site visit to another hospital that was already performing at a level Forsyth wished to achieve. Creation of a "pivot nurse" position, staffed 24/7 by RNs trained in advanced cardiac life support, trauma nursing, and emergency pediatrics. Establishment of a three-bed intake area using a team approach of a doctor, two RNs, and a CEN.
D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009657:North Carolina; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009736:Nursing Process / Q000458:organization & administration