Fast Facts

National Health Statistics Report, Number 7, August 6, 2008

 

Mission Critical Moving Outside the Walls of the Emergency Department

Health care in the United States is delivered through a fragmented and complex system than can be difficult to navigate in the best of times.  While the purpose of the emergency department (ED) is treat and stabilize in instances of acute episodic care, in reality the ED does a lot more than treat and release patients.  The Follow-Up Office at Stony Brook Medical Center is an example of how one ED is collaborating with the local community to improve the health of its citizens.       
 
A decrease in the number of health care facilities combined with an increase in the number of Americans without health insurance and an aging population have contributed to a significant increase in the number of people receiving health care through the emergency department (ED).  The Medical College of Georgia is using telemedicine to keep nursing homes residents from visiting the ED unnecessarily. 
 
In recent years, there has been a major push to better integrate the efforts of the wide variety of federal agencies that do similar work, the Emergency Care Coordination Center was established to examine and explore ways to regionalize the delivery of emergency care.

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Spotlight on Learning Network II

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is an urban, academic health center located in Center City Philadelphia, PA.  Like other academic health centers, they struggle with balancing patient care, education, and research.  The opportunity to collaborate with other hospitals in addressing the hospital’s patient flow issues led Linda Davis-Moon MSN, CRNP, APRN, BC, executive director for strategic initiatives to Urgent Matters Learning Network II.  “We wanted support from our peers and to learn how others were addressing patient flow problems,” said Davis-Moon, the Urgent Matters project director.

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Urgent Matters Toolkit

The Urgent Matters toolkit is a collection of strategies and tools designed to target specific issues facing hospital emergency departments. This toolkit has been developed by hospitals across the country in conjunction with the Urgent Matters national program office at The George Washington University.

Many of these tools are now available on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation website. Check out the example below or click "see all" to view the full list.

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