Emergency department workflow

Since 2013, the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department has experienced an increase in the number of opioid-related deaths. The majority of cases coincided with the introduction of fentanyl into the local heroin supply. From 2014 to 2015, Miami-Dade County experienced a near 600% increase in fentanyl-related deaths, followed by an additional 200% increase in 2016. In 2015, two novel fentanyl analogs were identified in medical examiner cases: beta-hydroxythiofentanyl and acetyl fentanyl. In 2016, four additional fentanyl analogs emerged: para-fluoroisobutyryl fentanyl, butyryl fentanyl, furanyl fentanyl and carfentanil, as well as the synthetic opioid U-47700...

Providing timely and effective care in the emergency department (ED) requires the management of individual patients as well as the flow and demands of the entire department. Strategic changes to work processes, such as adding a flow coordination nurse or a physician in triage, have demonstrated improvements in throughput times. However, such global strategic changes do not address the real-time, often opportunistic workflow decisions of individual clinicians in the ED. We believe that real-time representation of the status of the entire emergency department and each patient within it through information visualizations will better support clinical decision-making in-the-moment and provide for rapid intervention to improve ED flow...

Objective This paper provides a narrative overview of the literature concerning clinical decision-making processes when staff come under pressure, particularly in uncertain, dynamic and emergency situations.Methods Studies between 1980 and 2015 were analysed using a six-phase thematic analysis framework to achieve an in-depth understanding of the complex origins of medical errors that occur when people and systems are under pressure and how work pressure affects clinical performance and patient outcomes. Literature searches were conducted using a Summons Search Service platform; search criteria included a variety of methodologies, resulting in the identification of 95 papers relevant to the present review...

OBJECTIVE: We assessed the effectiveness of a new standardized nursing cooperation workflow in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) to reduce stroke thrombolysis delays. PATIENTS AND METHODS: AIS patients receiving conventional thrombolysis treatment from March to September 2015 were included in the control group, referred to as T0. The intervention group, referred to as T1 group, consisted of AIS patients receiving a new standardized nursing cooperation workflow for intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) at the emergency department of Shanghai East Hospital (Shanghai, People's Republic of China) from October 2015 to March 2016...

BACKGROUND: Thousands of people die annually from prescription opioid overdoses; however there are few strategies to ensure patients receive medication risk information at the time of prescribing. OBJECTIVES: To compare the effectiveness of the Emergency Department (ED) Electronic Medication Complete Communication (EMC(2)) Opioid Strategy (with and without text messaging) to promote safe medication use and improved patient knowledge as compared to usual care. METHODS: The ED EMC(2) Opioid Strategy consists of 5 automated components to promote safe medication use: 1) physician reminder to counsel, 2) inbox message sent on to the patient's primary care physician, 3) pharmacist message on the prescription to counsel, 4) MedSheet supporting prescription information, and 5) patient-centered Take-Wait-Stop wording of prescription instructions...

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to evaluate the impact of evidence-based clinical decision support tools integrated directly into provider workflow in the electronic health record on utilization of computed tomography (CT) brain, C-spine, and pulmonary embolism (PE). METHODS: Validated, well-accepted scoring tools for head injury, C-spine injury, and PE were embedded into the electronic health record in a manner minimally disruptive to provider workflow. This was a longitudinal, before/after study in five emergency departments (EDs) in a healthcare system with a common electronic health record...

BACKGROUND: The practice of boarding admitted patients in the emergency department (ED) carries negative operational, clinical, and patient satisfaction consequences. Lean tools have been used to improve ED workflow. Interventions focused on reducing ED length of stay (LOS) for admitted patients are less explored. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a Lean-based initiative to reduce ED LOS for medicine admissions. DESIGN, SETTING, PATIENTS: Prospective quality improvement initiative performed at a single university-affiliated Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center from February 2013 to February 2016...

INTRODUCTION: Timeliness has been considered as a key domain in quality of emergency department (ED) care and delay in care providing is influential determinants of patient's outcomes. The present study, aimed to evaluate the determinants of prolonged ED length of stay (LOS). METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, using adopted version of the latest form for external evaluation and accreditation of EDs introduced by Iranian Ministry of Health, determinants of prolonged LOS were evaluated in the ED of an educational Hospital...

Medicaid beneficiaries in 6 North Carolina counties were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 clinical decision support (CDS) care transition strategies: (1) usual care (Control), (2) CDS messaging to patients and their medical homes (Reports), or (3) CDS messaging to patients, their medical homes, and their care managers (Reports+). We included 7146 Medicaid patients and evaluated transitions from specialist visit, ER and hospital encounters back to the patient's medical home. Patients enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid were not eligible...

Scientific evidence is available to guide the how to of medications management when patients with diabetes are hospitalized or present to the Emergency Department. However, few clinical trials in the diabetes field have addressed the execution, coupled with established implementation effectiveness evaluation frameworks to help inform and assess implementation practices to support the transition in care. These deficiencies may be overcome by (1) applying the principles of implementation and delivery systems science; (2) engaging the principles of human factors (HF) throughout the design, development, and evaluation planning activities; and (3) utilizing mixed methods to design the intervention, workflow processes, and evaluate the intervention for sustainability within existing care delivery models...

Introduction Research suggests Emergency Medical Services (EMS) over-use in urban cities is partly due to substance users with limited access to medical/social services. Recent efforts to deliver brief, motivational messages to encourage these individuals to enter treatment have not considered EMS providers. Problem Little research has been done with EMS providers who serve substance-using patients. The EMS providers were interviewed about participating in a pilot program where they would be trained to screen their patients for substance abuse and encourage them to enter drug treatment...

PURPOSE: To compare the medication history error rate of the emergency department (ED) pharmacy technician with that of nursing staff and to describe the workflow environment. METHODS: Fifty medication histories performed by an ED nurse followed by the pharmacy technician were evaluated for discrepancies (RN-PT group). A separate 50 medication histories performed by the pharmacy technician and observed with necessary intervention by the ED pharmacist were evaluated for discrepancies (PT-RPh group)...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Rapid repetitive administration of short-acting β-agonists (SABA) is the most effective means of reducing acute airflow obstruction in asthma. Little evidence exists that assesses process measures (ie, timeliness) and outcomes for asthma. We used quality improvement (QI) methods to improve emergency department care in accordance with national guidelines including timely SABA administration and use of asthma severity scores. METHODS: The Model for Improvement was used and interventions were targeted at 4 key drivers: knowledge, engagement, decision support, and workflow enhancement...

The locations where healthcare organizations directly distribute medications to patients in specific circumstances, such as at hospital discharge, are settings at risk of professional errors. Using organizational ethnography methodology, we sought to explore the characteristics of points of direct distribution of drugs (PDD) in the AUSL of Parma and identify aspects of the delivery process that could potentially generate errors. We conducted 75 3-hour observations (225 hours at total) of the two Parma AUSL PDDs...

OBJECTIVE: Despite significant workflow reform to comply with the federally mandated National Emergency Access Target (NEAT), Australian public hospitals continue to face significant barriers in achieving good ED patient flow. This study was undertaken to identify and analyse the impact of individual waypoints on an ED patient's journey and identify which waypoints act as bottlenecks to a hospital's 4 h ED disposition performance. METHODS: This study involves retrospective analysis and simulation employing 2 years of ED administrative data from a sample of two major and two large metropolitan hospitals in Queensland, Australia...

BACKGROUND: Implementation of the 'Sepsis Six' clinical care bundle within an hour of recognition of sepsis is recommended as an approach to reduce mortality in patients with sepsis, but achieving reliable delivery of the bundle has proved challenging. There remains little understanding of the barriers to reliable implementation of bundle components. We examined frontline clinical practice in implementing the Sepsis Six. METHODS: We conducted an ethnographic study in six hospitals participating in the Scottish Patient Safety Programme Sepsis collaborative...

Sepsis is a leading cause of in-hospital death, and evidence suggests a higher mortality in patients presenting with sepsis on the ward compared to those presenting to the emergency department. Ward patients who develop severe sepsis may have poor outcomes for a variety of reasons, including delayed diagnosis, lack of readily available staffing, and delayed treatment. We report on a multihospital quality improvement program for early detection and treatment of sepsis on general medical-surgical wards. We describe a multipronged approach to improve severe sepsis outcomes using the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Plan-Do-Study-Act model...

BACKGROUND: The increase in opioid overdose deaths has become a national public health crisis. Naloxone is an important tool in opioid overdose prevention. Distribution of nasal naloxone has been found to be a feasible, and effective intervention in community settings and may have potential high applicability in the emergency department, which is often the initial point of care for persons at high risk of overdose. One safety net hospital introduced an innovative policy to offer take-home nasal naloxone via a standing order to ensure distribution to patients at risk for overdose...

PURPOSE: This article illustrates a collaborative, full cycle diagnostic postoccupancy evaluation (POE) conducted in an emergency department (ED) to demonstrate methods of planning a POE, conducting research to capture meaningful data, and applying outcomes through the use of a design charrette. BACKGROUND: POEs often end with the reporting of findings rather than suggesting how this knowledge feeds forward. A design charrette presents an opportunity to engage with POE evidence and integrate research into practice...

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