Evaluation of the effectiveness of peer pressure to change disposition decisions and patient throughput by emergency physician.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to develop a strategy for imposing peer pressure on emergency physicians to discharge patients and to evaluate patient throughput before and after intervention.


METHODS
A before-and-after study was conducted in a medical center with more than 120 000 annual emergency department (ED) visits. All nontraumatic adult patients who presented to the ED between 7:30 and 11:30 am Wednesday to Sunday were reviewed. We created a "team norm" imposed peer-pressure effect by announcing the patient discharge rate of each emergency physician through monthly e-mail reminders. Emergency department length of stay (LOS) and 8-hour (the end of shift) and final disposition of patients before (June 1, 2011-September 30, 2011) and after (October 1, 2011-January 30, 2012) intervention were compared.


RESULTS
Patients enrolled before and after intervention totaled 3305 and 2945. No differences existed for age, sex, or average number of patient visits per shift. The 8-hour discharge rate increased significantly for all patients (53.5% vs 48.2%, P < .001), particularly for triage level III patients (odds ratio, 1.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-1.38) after intervention and without corresponding differences in the final disposition (P = .165) or admission rate (33.7% vs 31.6%, P = .079). Patients with a final discharge disposition had a shorter LOS (median, 140.4 min vs 158.3 min; P < .001) after intervention.


CONCLUSIONS
The intervention strategy used peer pressure to enhance patient flow and throughput. More patients were discharged at the end of shifts, particularly triage level III patients. The ED LOS for patients whose final disposition was discharge decreased significantly.
Department of Emergency Medicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Niaosong Township, Kaohsiung County, Taiwan.
Kuan-Han
KH
Wu
Fu-Jen
FJ
Cheng
Chao-Jui
CJ
Li
Hsien-Hung
HH
Cheng
Wen-Huei
WH
Lee
Chi-Wei
CW
Lee
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003441:Crowding; D034742:Electronic Mail; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006272:Health Facility Environment; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010379:Peer Group; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D058996:Quality Improvement; D017010:Reminder Systems; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014218:Triage