Creating an EnhancedTriage Area Improves EmergencyDepartment Throughput

摘要

The issue of overcrowding in our nation's emergency departments is well-known; likewise well-known are the multiple strategies to handle overcrowding while providing safe patient care and improving patient satisfaction. We describe one solution, implemented by our ED leadership team, which successfully increased patient satisfaction and decreased overall ED length of stay and our left-without-being-seen (LWBS) rate.Reports from several national studies " indicate that the majority of our nation's emergency departments reported being at or over operating capacity. In its 2003 report, Hospital emergency departments: Crowded conditions vary among hospitals and communities, the US General Accounting Office identified 3 specific indicators suggestive of overcrowding in emergency departments: (1) number of hours on diversion; (2) proportion of patients boarded in the emergency department awaiting staffed ED or inpatient treatment beds and length of time they are held in that status; and (3) proportion of patients who leave the emergency department before receiving a medical screening exam (LWBS).