Turning Around the Turn-Arounds: Improving ED Throughput Processes

Abstract

Emergency departments all over the United States are challenged with long waits, increasing hours of diversion, crowding, and struggles with patient satisfaction and staff morale. Forty percent to 50% of emergency departments in the United States are experiencing capacity issues resulting in overcrowding. 1. National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey Google Scholar Given that ED utilization has increased 26% in the years between 1993 and 2003, an increase of more than 2 million visits per year, and that during these same years, the number of emergency departments has decreased 12.3%, there is little question that challenges in managing ED access and utilization are confronted daily. The mean wait time to see a provider in an emergency department in the United States is 46.5 minutes, and the mean length of stay is 3.2 hours. 2. McCaig LF Burt CW National hospital ambulatory medical care survey: 2003 emergency department summary. Google Scholar Furthermore, the landscape of U.S. health care presents a disparity in some of the most essential measures. For instance, U.S. health care is number 1 in cost and the percentage of uninsured but number 35 in customer service, and sadly, number 25 in infant mortality. Certainly those who deal daily with these challenges were not surprised when the Institute of Medicine released its study on emergency care with the descriptor: “At the breaking point.” 3. Committee on the Future of Emergency Care in the United States Healthcare SystemHospital-based emergency care: at the breaking point. Google Scholar Rhonda Morgan, Appalachian Chapter, is Vice President, Clinical Services, Holston Valley Medical Center, Kingsport, Tenn.