Hospitals Tap Technology to Identify Causes of ED Crowding

CAL/AAEM News Service calaaem_news@yahoo.com
Wed, 21 Apr 2004 22:05:18 -0700 (PDT)


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Hospitals Tap Technology to Identify Causes of ED Crowding

 

 

April 13, 2004

 

 

 

The Memphis Regional Medical Center in Memphis, Tenn., has cut emergency department wait times from four hours to one hour with the help of sensors on patients' wrists that track how long it takes to get from admission to discharge, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. The hospital is participating in a program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to alleviate ED crowding.  

 

The program, called Urgent Matters, has awarded 10 hospitals with grants ranging from $25,000 to $100,000. Memphis Regional and three other hospitals also received an extra $250,000 for serving as demonstration sites.

 

"We may have perceptions that our bottlenecks are in X-ray or in another department, but this is really telling the story," said Rhonda Nelson, vice president of patient care services at Memphis Regional.

 

A CDC report released last year found that ED visits rose from 89.9 million in 1992 to 107.5 million in 2001, which is largely attributed to the number of people without health insurance. While many hospitals have responded by building new and larger EDs, bigger departments do not address the real problems, said Bruce Siegel, a former New Jersey state health commissioner and a George Washington University professor who heads the program.

 

Overlook Hospital in Summit, N.J., which is not formally participating in the program, implemented a computer software program in January that can help hospitals identify bottlenecks or problems, the Star-Ledger reports. When the program finds a problem, such as a stock person not showing up or a computer crash, it issues a red signal, which alerts hospital personnel to address the problem before it gets worse.

 

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation plans to have a tool kit for hospitals available early next year, which will be available on the Urgent Matters Web site and will include examples of best practices in easing ED overcrowding from around the country, said Pamela Dickson, senior program officer and acting deputy director of the foundation's health care group (Stewart, Newark Star-Ledger, 4/12).  

 

 

Source: www.ihealthbeat.org 

 



Cyrus Shahpar & Brian Potts 
Managing Editors, CAL/AAEM News Service 
UC-Irvine

		
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<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN class=textblack14><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><FONT size=3>Hospitals Tap Technology to Identify Causes of ED Crowding<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:date Month="4" Day="13" Year="2004"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">April 13, 2004</SPAN></st1:date><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT size=3>&nbsp;</FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT size=3></FONT></o:p></SPAN>&nbsp;</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT size=3>&nbsp;</FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The </SPAN><st1:place><st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Memphis</SPAN></st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </SPAN><st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Regional</SPAN></st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </SPAN><st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Medical</SPAN></st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </SPAN><st1:PlaceType><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Center</SPAN></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> in </SPAN><st1:place><st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Memphis</SPAN></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, </SPAN><st1:State><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Tenn.</SPAN></st1:State></st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, has cut emergency department wait times from four hours to one hour with the help of sensors on patients' wrists that track how long it takes to ge!
 t from
 admission to discharge, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. The hospital is participating in a program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to alleviate ED crowding.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT size=3>&nbsp;</FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">The program, called </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: blue"><A href="http://www.urgentmatters.org/" target=_blank><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Urgent Matters</SPAN></A><!  FONT  face=arial><FONT face="Times New Roman">,</FONT></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> has awarded 10 hospitals with grants ranging from $25,000 to $100,000. Memphis Regional and three other hospitals also received an extra $250,000 for serving as demonstration sites.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT size=3>&nbsp;</FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><FONT size=3>"We may have perceptions that our bottlenecks are in X-ray or in another department, but this is really telling the story," said Rhonda Nelson, vice president of patient care services at Memphis Regional.<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT size=3>&nbsp;</FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">A CDC report released last year found that ED visits rose from 89.9 million in 1992 to 107.5 million in 2001, which is largely attributed to the number of people without health insurance. While many hospitals have responded by building new and larger EDs, bigger departments do not address the real problems, said Bruce Siegel, a former </SPAN><st1:State><st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">New Jersey</SPAN></st1:place></st1:State><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> state health commissioner and a </SPAN><st1:place><st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">George</SPAN></st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </SPAN><st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Washington</SPAN></st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </SPAN><st1:PlaceType><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">University</SPAN></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> profe!
 ssor who
 heads the program.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT size=3>&nbsp;</FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT size=3><st1:place><st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Overlook</SPAN></st1:PlaceName><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> </SPAN><st1:PlaceType><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Hospital</SPAN></st1:PlaceType></st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"> in </SPAN><st1:place><st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Summit</SPAN></st1:City><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, </SPAN><st1:State><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">N.J.</SPAN></st1:State></st1:place><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial">, which is not formally participating in the program, implemented a computer software program in January that can help hospitals identify bottlenecks or problems, the Star-Ledger reports. When the program finds a problem, such as a stock person not showing up or a computer crash, it issues a red signal, which alerts hospital personnel to address the problem before it gets worse.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT size=3>&nbsp;</FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><FONT size=3>The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation plans to have a tool kit for hospitals available early next year, which will be available on the Urgent Matters Web site and will include examples of best practices in easing ED overcrowding from around the country, said Pamela Dickson, senior program officer and acting deputy director of the foundation's health care group (Stewart, Newark Star-Ledger, 4/12).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </SPAN><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT size=3>&nbsp;</FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p><FONT size=3>&nbsp;</FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><FONT size=3>Source: </FONT><A href="http://www.ihealthbeat.org/"><FONT size=3>www.ihealthbeat.org</FONT></A><FONT size=3> </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><FONT size=3><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN>&nbsp;</P></DIV><BR><BR><DIV><FONT face=arial><FONT size=3><STRONG>Cyrus Shahpar &amp; Brian Potts</STRONG> <BR>Managing Editors, CAL/AAEM News Service <BR>UC-Irvine</FONT></FONT></DIV><p>
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