scholarly journals Changes in Emergency Department Performance during Strike of Junior Physicians in Korea

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Jeongyong Sim ◽  
Yuri Choi ◽  
Jinwoo Jeong
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Hospital Mortality ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Control Period ◽  
Junior Doctors ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Ed Operations ◽  
And Control

Objective. A nationwide strike that took place from August 21 to September 7, 2020, which was led by young doctors represented by residents and interns, resulted in shortages of manpower at almost all university and training hospitals. This study aimed to identify differences in the process and outcomes of emergency department (ED) patient care by comparing the performance over about 2 weeks of the strike with that during the usual ED operations. Methods. This retrospective observational study evaluated ED flow and performance during the junior doctors’ strike and compared it with the usual period in a single tertiary-care academic hospital. The outcome variables were defined as ED length of stay, crude mortality, and hospital mortality and adjusted for demographic and clinical parameters. The effect of the doctors’ strike on hospital mortality adjusted for demographic and clinical variables was investigated using logistic regression. Results. A total of 1,121 and 1,496 patients visited the ED during the strike and control periods (both 17 days), respectively. The care usually provided by four or six physicians, including one specialist, was replaced with that by one or two specialists at any one time. During the trainee doctors’ strike, EM specialists managed patients with fewer consultations. However, the proportion of patients who underwent laboratory and radiologic tests did not change significantly. The median ED length of stay significantly decreased from 359 minutes (interquartile range, IQR: 147–391) in the control period to 326 minutes (IQR: 123–318) during the strike period P < 0.001 . The doctors’ strike was not found to have a significant effect on mortality after adjustments with other variables. Conclusion. During the junior doctors’ strike in 2020 in Korea, EM specialists efficiently managed the care of emergency patients with higher levels of acuity without compromising the survival rate, through fewer consultations and faster disposition.

Emergency Department Length of Stay Is an Independent Predictor of Hospital Mortality in Trauma Activation Patients

2011 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
pp. 1317-1325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan T. Mowery ◽  
Stacy D. Dougherty ◽  
Amy N. Hildreth ◽  
James H. Holmes ◽  
Michael C. Chang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Hospital Mortality ◽  
Independent Predictor ◽  
Trauma Activation

scholarly journals P139: The impact of a pancreatitis admission algorithm on emergency department length of stay in a tertiary care academic hospital

CJEM ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (S1) ◽  
pp. S114-S115
Author(s):  
A. Albina ◽  
F. Kegel ◽  
F. Dankoff ◽  
G. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Physician Satisfaction ◽  
Academic Hospital ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Potential Applicability ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Algorithm Implementation ◽  
The Impact

Background: Emergency department (ED) overcrowding is associated with a broad spectrum of poor medical outcomes, including medical errors, mortality, higher rates of leaving without being seen, and reduced patient and physician satisfaction. The largest contributor to overcrowding is access block – the inability of admitted patients to access in-patient beds from the ED. One component to addressing access block involves streamlining the decision process to rapidly determine which hospital service will admit the patient. Aim Statement: As of Sep 2011, admission algorithms at our institution were supported and formalised. The pancreatitis algorithm clarified whether general surgery or internal medicine would admit ED patients with pancreatitis. We hypothesize that this prior uncertainty delayed the admission decision and prolonged ED length of stay (LOS) for patients with pancreatitis. Our project evaluates whether implementing a pancreatitis admission algorithm at our institution reduced ED time to disposition (TTD) and LOS. Measures & Design: A retrospective review was conducted in a tertiary care academic hospital in Montreal for all adult ED patients diagnosed with pancreatitis from Apr 2010 to Mar 2014. The data was used to plot separate run charts for ED TTD and LOS. Serial measurements of each outcome were used to monitor change and evaluate for special cause variation. The mean ED LOS and TTD before and after algorithm implementation were also compared using the Student's t test. Evaluation/Results: Over four years, a total of 365 ED patients were diagnosed with pancreatitis and 287 (79%) were admitted. The mean ED LOS for patients with pancreatitis decreased following the implementation of an admission algorithm (1616 vs. 1418 mins, p = 0.05). The mean ED TTD was also reduced (1171 vs. 899 mins, p = 0.0006). A non-random signal of change was suggested by a shift above the median prior to algorithm implementation and one below the median following. Discussion/Impact: This project demonstrates that in a busy tertiary care academic hospital, an admission algorithm helped reduce ED TTD and LOS for patients with pancreatitis. This proves especially valuable when considering the potential applicability of such algorithms to other disease processes, such as gastrointestinal bleeding and congestive heart failure, among others. Future studies demonstrating this external applicability, and the impact of such decision algorithms on physician decision fatigue and within non-academic institutions, proves warranted.

scholarly journals Admission Decisions Made by Emergency Physicians Can Reduce the Emergency Department Length of Stay for Medical Patients

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Yuri Choi ◽  
Jinwoo Jeong ◽  
Byoung-Gwon Kim
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Control Period ◽  
Medical Patients ◽  
Emergency Physicians ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Admission Decisions ◽  
The Impact

Background. Emergency department (ED) overcrowding is a worldwide problem that poses a threat to patient safety by causing treatment delays and increasing mortality. Consultations are common and important in the emergency medicine profession and are associated with longer ED length of stay (LOS). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of admission decisions by emergency physicians without consultations on the ED LOS and other quality indicators. Methods. The study was a retrospective observational study comparing the ED LOS of patients admitted to the internal medicine (IM) department before and after the policy change regarding admission decisions that was implemented in October 2016. During and after the policy change, emergency physicians decided how to arrange for and treat medical patients by processing their admission and providing follow-up care without consultations. The ED LOS and other indicators of patients admitted to the IM department were compared between the study period (January to June 2017) and the control period (January to June 2016). Results. The median ED LOS of patients admitted to the IM department decreased from 673 (IQR: 347–1,369) minutes in the control period to 237 (IQR: 166–364) minutes in the study period. There were no significant differences in the interdepartmental transfer rate or in-hospital mortality between the two periods. Conclusions. The admission decisions regarding medical patients made by emergency physicians without specialty consultations reduced the ED LOS without a significant negative effect on mortality or hospital LOS.

scholarly journals Impact of point-of-care testing on patients' length of stay in a large emergency department

1996 ◽  
Vol 42 (5) ◽  
pp. 711-717 ◽  
Author(s):  
C A Parvin ◽  
S F Lo ◽  
S M Deuser ◽  
L G Weaver ◽  
L M Lewis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Control Period ◽  
Experimental Period ◽  
Central Laboratory ◽  
Point Of Care Testing ◽  
Acceptable Accuracy ◽  
Patient Interview ◽  
Combined Control

Abstract We prospectively investigated whether routine use of a point-of-care testing (POCT) device by nonlaboratory operators in the emergency department (ED) for all patients requiring the available tests could shorten patient length of stay (LOS) in the ED. ED patient LOS, defined as the length of time between triage (initial patient interview) and discharge (released to home or admitted to hospital), was examined during a 5-week experimental period in which ED personnel used a hand-held POCT device to perform Na, K, Cl, glucose (Gluc), and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) testing. Preliminary data demonstrated acceptable accuracy of the hand-held device. Patient LOS distribution during the experimental period was compared with the LOS distribution during a 5-week control period before institution of the POCT device and with a 3-week control period after its use. Among nearly 15 000 ED patient visits during the study period, 4985 patients (2067 during the experimental period and 2918 during the two control periods) had at least one Na, K, Cl, BUN, or Gluc test ordered from the ED. However, no decrease in ED LOS was observed in the tested patients during the experimental period. Median LOS during the experimental period was 209 min vs 201 min for the combined control periods. Stratifying patients by presenting condition (chest pain, trauma, etc.), discharge/admit status, or presence/absence of other central laboratory tests did not reveal a decrease in patient LOS for any patient subgroup during the experimental period. From these observations, we consider it unlikely that routine use of a hand-held POCT device in a large ED such as ours is sufficient by itself to impact ED patient LOS.

scholarly journals Increased Length of Stay of Critically Ill Patients in the Emergency Department Associated with Higher In-hospital Mortality

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (11) ◽  
pp. 1221-1225
Author(s):  
Ankur Verma ◽  
Amit Vishen ◽  
Meghna Haldar ◽  
Sanjay Jaiswal ◽  
Rinkey Ahuja ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Hospital Mortality ◽  
Critically Ill ◽  
Critically Ill Patients

scholarly journals LO14: Interdepartmental program to improve outcomes for acute heart failure patients seen in the emergency department

CJEM ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (S1) ◽  
pp. S11-S12
Author(s):  
I. Stiell ◽  
M. Taljaard ◽  
A. Forster ◽  
L. Mielniczuk ◽  
G. Wells ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Emergency Department ◽  
Acute Heart Failure ◽  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Control Period ◽  
Care Hospital ◽  
Index Visit ◽  
Rapid Access

Introduction: An important challenge physicians face when treating acute heart failure (AHF) patients in the emergency department (ED) is deciding whether to admit or discharge, with or without early follow-up. The overall goal of our project was to improve care for AHF patients seen in the ED while avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions. The specific goal was to introduce hospital rapid referral clinics to ensure AHF patients were seen within 7 days of ED discharge. Methods: This prospective before-after study was conducted at two campuses of a large tertiary care hospital, including the EDs and specialty outpatient clinics. We enrolled AHF patients ≥50 years who presented to the ED with shortness of breath (<7 days). The 12-month before (control) period was separated from the 12-month after (intervention) period by a 3-month implementation period. Implementation included creation of rapid access AHF clinics staffed by cardiology and internal medicine, and development of referral procedures. There was extensive in-servicing of all ED staff. The primary outcome measure was hospital admission at the index visit or within 30 days. Secondary outcomes included mortality and actual access to rapid follow-up. We used segmented autoregression analysis of the monthly proportions to determine whether there was a change in admissions coinciding with the introduction of the intervention and estimated a sample size of 700 patients. Results: The patients in the before period (N = 355) and the after period (N = 374) were similar for age (77.8 vs. 78.1 years), arrival by ambulance (48.7% vs 51.1%), comorbidities, current medications, and need for non-invasive ventilation (10.4% vs. 6.7%). Comparing the before to the after periods, we observed a decrease in hospital admissions on index visit (from 57.7% to 42.0%; P <0.01), as well as all admissions within 30 days (from 65.1% to 53.5% (P < 0.01). The autoregression analysis, however, demonstrated a pre-existing trend to fewer admissions and could not attribute this to the intervention (P = 0.91). Attendance at a specialty clinic, amongst those discharged increased from 17.8% to 42.1% (P < 0.01) and the median days to clinic decreased from 13 to 6 days (P < 0.01). 30-day mortality did not change (4.5% vs. 4.0%; P = 0.76). Conclusion: Implementation of rapid-access dedicated AHF clinics led to considerably increased access to specialist care, much reduced follow-up times, and possible reduction in hospital admissions. Widespread use of this approach can improve AHF care in Canada.

Factors Associated With Emergency Department Length of Stay and In-hospital Mortality in Intracerebral Hemorrhage Patients

2021 ◽  
Vol Publish Ahead of Print ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolle W. Davis ◽  
Tiffany O. Sheehan ◽  
Yi Guo ◽  
Debra Lynch Kelly ◽  
Ann L. Horgas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Intracerebral Hemorrhage ◽  
Hospital Mortality ◽  
Factors Associated

scholarly journals Independent determinants of prolonged emergency department length of stay in a tertiary care centre: a prospective cohort study

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniël van der Veen ◽  
Claudia Remeijer ◽  
Anne J. Fogteloo ◽  
Christian Heringhaus ◽  
Bas de Groot
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Department ◽  
Cohort Study ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Prospective Cohort Study ◽  
Prospective Cohort ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Care Centre ◽  
Tertiary Care Centre
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