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Ed Throughput

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Improving Emergency Department Throughput Time
HCS/587
October 1, 2012
Improving Emergency Department Throughput Time
Hospitals are experiencing patient congested emergency departments. At Baptist Memorial Hospital, the increase in patient volume and limited capacity contributes to long length of stays and patients leaving without being seen. As a result of overcrowded emergency rooms, patient length of stay becomes more important. Throughput times in the emergency department (ED) play a substantial role in patient and staff satisfaction. Length of stay in the ED is directly related to patient volume, patient acuity, lab turnaround times, and time to treatment, which is all connected to patient satisfaction. Long wait time …show more content…

Efficiency or streamlined processes are necessary to see and treat the number of patients presenting.
A specific problem that contributes to increased length of stay and delayed diagnosis is the timely result of urinalysis. The root cause of delayed urinalysis results is attributed to failure to collect, failure to transport, and failure to order. On a regular basis, the physicians wait on urinalysis reports when all other ordered lab has resulted. In exploring the possible causes of delayed results, it was discovered that when a urinalysis was ordered, many times the patient could not void. Therefore, the urine was not collected and soon forgotten by the nurse. Additionally, urines collected were not transported to the lab. The patient was provided with the specimen cup and collected the urine, but it was left sitting at the bedside even though the lab technician might have been in the room. Last, a problem exists with collecting urines but failing to order the test. Nurses implement protocols but fail to order the test in the system.
In a simulation study, significant improvement in ED efficiency was shown with decreasing lab turnaround time (Storrow, et al., 2008). As stated in the article, “the development of simulation models has been driven by nationwide increases in ED patient census and acuity, as well as ED closures and hospital overcrowding” (Storrow, et al., 2008, p. 1131). This study highlighted

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