Back to Search
Start Over
Do admitted patients held in the emergency department impact the throughput of treat-and-release patients?
- Source :
-
Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine [Acad Emerg Med] 1996 Dec; Vol. 3 (12), pp. 1113-8. - Publication Year :
- 1996
-
Abstract
- Objective: To examine the impact of reducing ED "boarders" (through the use of a short-stay inpatient medicine unit) on the amount of time that treat-and-release patients spend in the ED.<br />Methods: A retrospective analysis of hours spent in the ED was made at a university hospital teaching ED for treat-and-release patients in 4 clinical categories: chest pain, asthma exacerbation, sickle-cell crisis, and seizure. The average hours per patient spent in the ED during the 4-month intervals before (August-November 1993) and after (August-November 1994) the establishment of the short-stay medicine unit were compared. Data were analyzed using the 2-tailed, unpaired t-test.<br />Results: This short-stay inpatient medicine unit received on average 135 patients per month from the ED, with an average length of stay of 2.4 days. The mean (+/-SD) number of admitted patients per day waiting in the ED > 8 hours for an inpatient bed dropped from 9.6 +/- 4.2., before the institution of this unit, to 2.3 +/- 2.6. There was a significant reduction in the average number of hours spent in the ED by treat-and-release patients with chest pain (from 7.3 +/- 6.0 to 5.5 +/- 4.8 hr/patient, p < 0.001) and asthma exacerbation (from 5.0 +/- 3.6 to 4.2 +/- 2.9 hr/patient, p < 0.05), but not with sickle-cell crisis or seizure, after the implementation of the short-stay unit.<br />Conclusion: Reducing the number of admitted patients waiting in the ED for inpatients beds, in this case by establishment of a short-stay medicine unit, is associated with a decrease in the interval that treat-and-release patients spend in the ED.
- Subjects :
- Adult
Anemia, Sickle Cell therapy
Asthma therapy
Chest Pain therapy
Emergency Service, Hospital organization & administration
Health Services Research
Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over
Hospital Units organization & administration
Hospitals, Teaching
Humans
New York
Retrospective Studies
Seizures therapy
Time Factors
Time Management
Emergency Service, Hospital statistics & numerical data
Hospital Units statistics & numerical data
Patient Admission standards
Waiting Lists
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1069-6563
- Volume :
- 3
- Issue :
- 12
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Academic emergency medicine : official journal of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 8959165
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1553-2712.1996.tb03370.x