Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

The ED Corrective Action Team

The Problem

The emergency department corrective action team began May 2, 2007 with the mission statement to improve the emergency department process. The goals were to improve patient satisfaction to greater than 88 percent, decrease length of stay to less than 120 minutes, reduce left without being seen to less than 2 percent and reduce door-to-doctor time by 20 percent.

The Solution

The team implemented nursing documentation, nursing protocols, chart flagging system, bedside registration and a rapid triage process. Emergency department volume increased 12.17 percent in 2008. A midlevel provider, registration clerk and a registered nurse were added during peak arrival times. Some of the methods implemented included double checking all new orders from IV medications, improved recognition of  "out of range" weights entered into the pharmacy computer system and an increased focus on pharamcist attention.

Read the results by clicking below on "view item."