Abstract
Shortening emergency department (ED) boarding time and managing hospital bed capacity by expediting the inpatient discharge process have been challenging for hospitals nationwide. The objective of this study is was to explore the effect of an innovative prospective intervention on hospital workflow, specifically on early inpatient discharges and the ED boarding time. The intervention consisted of a structured nursing “admission discharge transfer” (ADT) protocol receiving new admissions from the ED and helping out floor nursing with early discharges. ADT intervention was implemented in a 38-bed hospitalist run inpatient unit at an academic hospital. The study population consisted of 4486 patients (including inpatient and observation admissions) who were hospitalized to the medicine unit from March 2013–March 2014. Of these hospitalizations, 2259 patients received the ADT intervention. Patients’ demographics, discharge and ED boarding data were collected for from March 4, 2013 to March 31, 2014 for both intervention and control groups (28 weeks each). Chi-square and unpaired t tests were utilized to compare population characteristics. Poisson regression analysis was conducted to estimate the association between intervention and hospital length of stay adjusted for differences in patient demographics. Mean age of the study population was 58.6 years, 23% were African Americans and 55% were women. A significant reduction in ED boarding time (p < 0.001) and improvement in early (before 2 PM) hospital discharges (p = 0.01) were noticed among patients in the intervention groups. There was a slight but significant reduction in hospital length of stay for observation patients in the intervention group; however, no such difference was noted for inpatient admissions. Our study showed that dedicating nursing resources towards ED-boarded patients and early inpatient discharges can significantly improve hospital workflow and reduce hospital length of stay.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-9 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Internal and Emergency Medicine |
| DOIs | |
| State | Accepted/In press - Jan 15 2018 |
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Keywords
- Early hospital discharges
- ED boarding time
- Hospital length of stay
- Hospital workflow
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Internal Medicine
- Emergency Medicine
Cite this
Emergency department throughput : an intervention. / Haq, Nowreen; Stewart-Corral, Rona; Hamrock, Eric; Perin, Jamie L.; Khaliq, Waseem.
In: Internal and Emergency Medicine, 15.01.2018, p. 1-9.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Emergency department throughput
T2 - an intervention
AU - Haq, Nowreen
AU - Stewart-Corral, Rona
AU - Hamrock, Eric
AU - Perin, Jamie L.
AU - Khaliq, Waseem
PY - 2018/1/15
Y1 - 2018/1/15
N2 - Shortening emergency department (ED) boarding time and managing hospital bed capacity by expediting the inpatient discharge process have been challenging for hospitals nationwide. The objective of this study is was to explore the effect of an innovative prospective intervention on hospital workflow, specifically on early inpatient discharges and the ED boarding time. The intervention consisted of a structured nursing “admission discharge transfer” (ADT) protocol receiving new admissions from the ED and helping out floor nursing with early discharges. ADT intervention was implemented in a 38-bed hospitalist run inpatient unit at an academic hospital. The study population consisted of 4486 patients (including inpatient and observation admissions) who were hospitalized to the medicine unit from March 2013–March 2014. Of these hospitalizations, 2259 patients received the ADT intervention. Patients’ demographics, discharge and ED boarding data were collected for from March 4, 2013 to March 31, 2014 for both intervention and control groups (28 weeks each). Chi-square and unpaired t tests were utilized to compare population characteristics. Poisson regression analysis was conducted to estimate the association between intervention and hospital length of stay adjusted for differences in patient demographics. Mean age of the study population was 58.6 years, 23% were African Americans and 55% were women. A significant reduction in ED boarding time (p < 0.001) and improvement in early (before 2 PM) hospital discharges (p = 0.01) were noticed among patients in the intervention groups. There was a slight but significant reduction in hospital length of stay for observation patients in the intervention group; however, no such difference was noted for inpatient admissions. Our study showed that dedicating nursing resources towards ED-boarded patients and early inpatient discharges can significantly improve hospital workflow and reduce hospital length of stay.
AB - Shortening emergency department (ED) boarding time and managing hospital bed capacity by expediting the inpatient discharge process have been challenging for hospitals nationwide. The objective of this study is was to explore the effect of an innovative prospective intervention on hospital workflow, specifically on early inpatient discharges and the ED boarding time. The intervention consisted of a structured nursing “admission discharge transfer” (ADT) protocol receiving new admissions from the ED and helping out floor nursing with early discharges. ADT intervention was implemented in a 38-bed hospitalist run inpatient unit at an academic hospital. The study population consisted of 4486 patients (including inpatient and observation admissions) who were hospitalized to the medicine unit from March 2013–March 2014. Of these hospitalizations, 2259 patients received the ADT intervention. Patients’ demographics, discharge and ED boarding data were collected for from March 4, 2013 to March 31, 2014 for both intervention and control groups (28 weeks each). Chi-square and unpaired t tests were utilized to compare population characteristics. Poisson regression analysis was conducted to estimate the association between intervention and hospital length of stay adjusted for differences in patient demographics. Mean age of the study population was 58.6 years, 23% were African Americans and 55% were women. A significant reduction in ED boarding time (p < 0.001) and improvement in early (before 2 PM) hospital discharges (p = 0.01) were noticed among patients in the intervention groups. There was a slight but significant reduction in hospital length of stay for observation patients in the intervention group; however, no such difference was noted for inpatient admissions. Our study showed that dedicating nursing resources towards ED-boarded patients and early inpatient discharges can significantly improve hospital workflow and reduce hospital length of stay.
KW - Early hospital discharges
KW - ED boarding time
KW - Hospital length of stay
KW - Hospital workflow
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85041854858&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85041854858&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11739-018-1786-1
DO - 10.1007/s11739-018-1786-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 29335822
AN - SCOPUS:85041854858
SP - 1
EP - 9
JO - Internal and Emergency Medicine
JF - Internal and Emergency Medicine
SN - 1828-0447
ER -