Dan9871
09-13-2017, 12:38 PM
Here is a link to a WSJ article about Fixing ER wait times.
How to Fix the Emergency Room - WSJ (https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-fix-the-emergency-room-1505268780)
It might be behind a paywall for you, sorry.
The article makes it look like TVH's ER wait times are not unusual.
The article talks about things researchers and others have been looking into to to cut down wait times. It mentions the having a separate area for people with minor complaints like what THV's ER has done recently. It also mentions changes Ocala Regional Medical Center's ER has done recently.
It also mentions software that will predict in real time when an ER will get into an overflow status and point out the issues that are driving it in that direction... like patients who have been waiting a long time to have a test done. Or tests that have been done on a patients but taking too long for results. The idea is that the ER staff can focus some resources on critical path that is making the ER overflow.
It also mentions eliminating triage. And also having a single point of communication between the ER and the Hospital to set up transfers to the hospital. And also sending patient, to be admitted, on a bed to the hospital floor to wait for a room rather than have them wait in the ER... they claim that some ER overflows are caused because the hospital takes to long to release a patient and get them out of the hospital.
I'm not sure that the times savings mentioned in the article are something that would be noticed by someone waiting to be treated... cutting a 3 and half hour wait down to 3 hours 10 minutes is definitely a statistical difference but not a practical one a patient would notice, IMHO.
GE and DB... are the things mentioned in this article practical solutions to ER wait times? I know research is important in any field to improve it, but I also know that researchers sometimes focus on problems they make up and understand and rather than tackle real world issues.
I think GE mentioned having contract doc's with no real commitment to the success of the ER was part of the problem. That wasn't mentioned in this article.
How to Fix the Emergency Room - WSJ (https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-fix-the-emergency-room-1505268780)
It might be behind a paywall for you, sorry.
The article makes it look like TVH's ER wait times are not unusual.
The article talks about things researchers and others have been looking into to to cut down wait times. It mentions the having a separate area for people with minor complaints like what THV's ER has done recently. It also mentions changes Ocala Regional Medical Center's ER has done recently.
It also mentions software that will predict in real time when an ER will get into an overflow status and point out the issues that are driving it in that direction... like patients who have been waiting a long time to have a test done. Or tests that have been done on a patients but taking too long for results. The idea is that the ER staff can focus some resources on critical path that is making the ER overflow.
It also mentions eliminating triage. And also having a single point of communication between the ER and the Hospital to set up transfers to the hospital. And also sending patient, to be admitted, on a bed to the hospital floor to wait for a room rather than have them wait in the ER... they claim that some ER overflows are caused because the hospital takes to long to release a patient and get them out of the hospital.
I'm not sure that the times savings mentioned in the article are something that would be noticed by someone waiting to be treated... cutting a 3 and half hour wait down to 3 hours 10 minutes is definitely a statistical difference but not a practical one a patient would notice, IMHO.
GE and DB... are the things mentioned in this article practical solutions to ER wait times? I know research is important in any field to improve it, but I also know that researchers sometimes focus on problems they make up and understand and rather than tackle real world issues.
I think GE mentioned having contract doc's with no real commitment to the success of the ER was part of the problem. That wasn't mentioned in this article.