Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

ED Improvements Led by Team

The Problem

When the performance improvement team began to take stock of the situation in Advocate South Suburban's ED, they found some dismal metrics. Patients waited more than six hours for treatment, with nearly six percent leaving without treatment. Additionally, patient satisfaction measures were low and staff and physicians were frustrated. The December 2007 initial measurements were:

• 393 minutes—average length of stay (LOS), overall
• 203 minutes—LOS, fast track
• 5.76 percent—left without treatment, overall (industry best practice
•  3.3 percent—left without treatment, fast track length
• 16 percent—patient satisfaction rate
•  256 minutes—housekeeping room turnover, regular
• 52 minutes—housekeeping room turnover, STAT clean

The Solution

The eight-hospital Advocate Health Care system is undergoing performance improvement enhancements. "Advocate Performance Enhancement"is heavily influenced by Lean methodology, with doses of Six Sigma and other tools. It is being rolled out slowly throughout the entire system. In December 2007, South Suburban began to look at its ED and brainstormed ways to improve service. The program is designed to be an overall system transformation rather than a series of process improvement programs.

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