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Introduction to Nursing Research

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Shortening the Wait: A Strategy to Reduce Waiting Times in the Emergency Department
Introduction
Emergency Department (ED) nursing is fast paced and complex in nature. Their goal is to assess quickly and prioritize the patient needs so that those with emergent needs are seen before those with urgent or non-urgent needs. Causes of ED overcrowding and lengthening wait time include, influenza season, inadequate staffing, inpatient boarding due to inadequate hospital beds and patient population larger than hospital capacity (Hoot and Aronsky, 2008). The length of stay in the ED has a correlation with the quality of care a patient receives. Many EDs struggle with patient overcrowding and there appears to be no silver bullet to adequately …show more content…

Various contributing factors were identified including population growth, scarcity of primary health care providers, longer wait times for surgery and medical imaging, and the “one-stop” availability of ED services around the clock (Finamore and Turris, 2009).
This study addressed the challenge posed by less-urgent patient population showing up in the ED across Canada. This segment of the ED patients represents a significant proportion of the individuals seeking care in Canadian EDs thereby contributing to overcrowding. The authors hypothesized that less urgent patients might benefit from a targeted approach to care, given that they have conditions that do not require urgent or emergent care but must be seen in an acute care setting like a satellite clinic to adequately address their conditions.
Method of Study
This was a qualitative study that involved structured interviews of key stake holders, identification of data trends, strategizing on how best to meet the needs of the specific community focusing on the less urgent patients in the ED while also addressing the overcrowding problem. The researchers identified, interviewed and consulted key stakeholders from the following groups: emergency nurses, emergency physicians, admitting staff, medical

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