As a source of high patient volume as well as anxiety, creating a high quality, safe, uninterrupted and efficient emergency department is an important goal for any hospital. With the amount of emergency department visits steadily increasing across the years, health systems may choose several options for overcrowding assistance. Among them are to build new, more efficient facilities or make sure their hospitals are more efficiently run.
While satellite emergency departments, ambulatory surgery centers and urgent care clinics are growing medical real estate endeavors health systems are adopting, building new or acquiring such facilities is not always the answer. Analyzing the processes that encapsulate the patient experience from admission to discharge can reveal areas that need improvement.
7 Methods to Ease ED Overcrowding:
1. Hotline: Incorporate a nurse hotline for patients to call to gauge whether their symptoms are severe enough for an emergency department visit.
2. Online Wait Time: By informing patients how long they can expect to wait, patients may better weigh if they need to act now or if their symptoms can wait. Implementing simple technological advancements can reduce patient stress and increase physician efficiency.
3. Fast Track System: Implementing a fast track system allows advanced care providers, such as registered nurses and physicians assistants, the ability to provide treatment to non-urgent cases while physicians see urgent cases.
4. Observation Units: Patients not requiring urgent care may be treated in specialized observation units which may ease traffic flow and over boarding in the emergency department.
5. Patient Transfer Liaison: Institute a hospital staff member to be in charge of overseeing the flow of emergency department patients to inpatient areas. This can significantly free up space and emergency department beds while transferring patients to a more permanent stay in a timely manner.
6. Discharge Room: Create a separate sitting area for patients waiting on medication, travel arrangements or further post discharge instructions freeing hospital beds and preventing backup.
7. Post Discharge Follow-up: Informing patients instructions and procedures to adhere by the day after discharge, and subsequent days, can reduce readmissions saving hospitals time and money. This is especially important with elderly populations who may need to be reminded of their detailed, at-home-care responsibilities.
James Ellis, CEO, Health Care Realty Development Company, is a nationally recognized successful real estate investor and developer of medical office properties with a comprehensive knowledge of sophisticated real estate transactions, cost effective designs, and efficient property management.
Aaron Razavi is Associate Marketing Director at Health Care Realty Development.
Visit their blog at http://www.hcrealty.com/medicalrealestatedevelopment/