ED cuts LWBS from 5% to 0.5%.

The leaders at King's Daughters Medical Center in Ashland, KY, firmly believe that solving ED throughput problems must be the responsibility of the entire hospital. They must be on the right track. A recent initiative has slashed the rate of patients who left without being seen from 5% to 0.5%. When beds are available in the ED, presenting patients are moved there immediately and then triaged by the bed nurse. Throughput assessments are conducted hourly so that problems can be addressed immediately. When the ED is in danger of becoming overwhelmed, all department leaders are paged and direct their units to take appropriate action.