Electronic acute medical take – small measures to improve transparency, management, flow and efficiency; a model for the future hospital

Increasing demands on the emergency department (ED) and acute medicine over the past decade have tested quality and management, unmasking long-accepted inefficient and archaic systems. More robust processes are needed to identify workflow and resource pressures in a more timely manner. Starting at the front door, the referral system between the ED and medicine is obscure and rife with inherent delays and consequent compromised patient care. A lack of transparency confounds performance and collaboration. The medical registrar, often the most experienced doctor on site, is hindered from clinical utility in fielding bleep referrals. Strategies to improve the acute medical take, including optimising the utility and efficiency of the medical registrar, are needed. With the increasing importance of leadership and management as core skills, medical registrars need an opportunity to develop an oversight role, as stated in the JRCPTB quality criteria, while also benefiting their juniors in accessibility for educational purposes.