Urgent Matters E-Newsletter
Volume 6, Issue 2 
 
November/December 2009
Special Focus Issue- Patient Intake
 

In this Issue:

  • Patient Intake
  • Best Practices: Team Triage
  • Innovations: Mobile Video Systems Link ED with Ambulances to Jump-Start Triage
  • Perspectives: Achieving Success in an Increasingly Complicated Environment: Key Strategies to Improving ED Patient Flow
  • Focus on Urgent Matters Learning Network II: Hahnemann University Hospital

Patient Intake

This issue of the Urgent Matters E-Newsletter features examples of new and innovative approaches to patient intake and flow in the emergency department.  The articles below explore the benefits of using team triage; highlight an innovative program that is promoting collaboration between EMS and the ED; and provide practical advice for improving patient flow.  

Best Practices

Team Triage

It's said that necessity is the mother of invention; that sometimes the best ideas come from trying to make the most of a difficult situation. That's certainly the case for Alle-Kiski Medical Center (AKMC) in Natrona Heights, Pa., which hit upon a resource-saving, patient-pleasing triage system while it was struggling with a small, crowded emergency department (ED) and limited resources. read more >>

Innovations 

Mobile Video Systems Link ED with Ambulances to Jump-Start Triage

A stab wound to the chest is considered one of the most severe forms of trauma, so when a call comes through to a hospital emergency department (ED) that a patient with a blade in the chest is coming in, as many as twenty clinicians will stop what they're doing and mobilize to save his life.read more >>

Perspectives

Achieving Success in an Increasingly Complicated Environment: Key Strategies to Improving ED Patient Flow

The benefits of ensuring that ED operations flow smoothly from the very beginning of the patient visit has a huge impact on subsequent steps in the system. While there is no magical solution to ED flow problems, Dr. Kirk Jensen, Chief Medical Officer of BestPractices and Chair of the Institute for Health Improvement Improving Flow through Acute Care Settings team shares a few key strategies for ED and hospital administrators. read more >>

Focus on Urgent Matters Learning Network II

Hahnemann University Hospital
 
Hahnemann University Hospital is an academic medical center that provides tertiary care to the City of Philadelphia and its surrounding counties. As a busy hospital located in a densely populated region of the country, Hahnemann was seeking to improve patient care by decreasing emergency department throughput times.
read more >>