title: Utilization review process calls for assessing patients at every point of entry.
abstract: Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH, reviews patients at every point of access to get their status right up front. Case managers cover the emergency department, utilization review nurse review surgical patients, and physician advisors are on call to the transfer center. Observation patients are placed in a clinical decision unit next to the emergency department; surgical patients who need a longer-than-normal recovery period are monitored in a short-stay unit. The electronic medical record allows clinicians to see what the other disciplines are doing in real time.
mesh_terms: D019090:Case Management; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004469:Economics, Hospital; D010348:Patient Care Team; D014600:Utilization Review