Focus on Workforce
The healthcare workforce serves as the backbone of the nation’s healthcare system. The right mix of health professionals increases the quality of care provided and promotes greater efficiency in emergency department operations. Healthcare providers are continually adapting to new technology, care delivery models, and changes in demand. This issue of the Urgent Matters E-Newsletter examines three topics related to emergency department workforce: the use of scribes; the role of nurse practitioners; and violence against emergency department nurses. Read More>>
In This Issue:
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Best Practices: The Use of Scribes in the Emergency Department
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Innovations: An Underutilized Resource: Nurse Practitioners in the ED
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Perspectives: Silent No More: Ending Violence Against Nurses in the ED
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Focus on Urgent Matters Learning Network II: St. Francis Hospital
Focus on Boarding
One of the major contributors to crowding in the emergency department is the practice of boarding, holding patients in the ED awaiting hospital bed assignments. As the number of EDs across the country decrease and the population increases, hospitals must develop internal processes and procedures to ensure boarded patients are receiving high quality and timely care. This issue of the Urgent Matters E-Newsletter examines three topics related to boarding in the emergency department: expediting inpatient discharges; surgical smoothing; and the impact of boarding on patient care and outcomes.
In This Issue:
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Best Practices: Expediting Patient Discharge: UMass Memorial Medical Center
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Innovations: Surgical Smoothing
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Perspectives: A Case of the Mondays
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Focus on Urgent Matters Learning Network II: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Focus on Quality Improvement Techniques
Quality as always been an important element in health care, and in the era of health reform there has been a renewed interest in the process of quality improvement and related techniques. There are numerous quality improvement techniques, processes, and methodologies being used in the health care industry today. An increasing number of providers are utilizing a process called Lean, a methodology associated primarily with Toyota and manufacturing industries. It is used to improve quality, reduce waste, and create more efficient and effective processes to improve overall patient outcomes.
Lean is a set of principles and methods that can be applied to any team of people working in an organized process. Lean methodology is being used to examine process flow, identify barriers, and reallocate resources to improve patient outcomes and the overall quality of care. This issue of the Urgent Matters E-Newsletter examines the use of Lean methodology as a quality improvement technique in the emergency department and features an interview with one of the leading experts in the field of health care quality, Dr. Dale Bratzler, DO, MPH, chief executive officer, Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality; president, American Health Quality Association.
Lean is a set of principles and methods that can be applied to any team of people working in an organized process. Lean methodology is being used to examine process flow, identify barriers, and reallocate resources to improve patient outcomes and the overall quality of care. This issue of the Urgent Matters E-Newsletter examines the use of Lean methodology as a quality improvement technique in the emergency department and features an interview with one of the leading experts in the field of health care quality, Dr. Dale Bratzler, DO, MPH, chief executive officer, Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality; president, American Health Quality Association.
In This Issue:
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Best Practices: Value Stream Mapping
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Innovations: Team Assessment Pull Process
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Perspectives: Enhancing the Flow of Quality Improvements
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Focus on Urgent Matters Learning Network II: Stony Brook University Medical Center
