Emergency Department Achieves Systemwide Praise

Hospital’s Emergency Department Achieves Systemwide Praise

The Challenge
A number of issues simultaneously converged on the emergency department at Doctor’s Hospital of Manteca in California. Growing volume meant the ED would need more space, the hospital was going through a transition to electronic medical records (EMR) and the hospital’s parent company, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, was focusing on the importance of improved ED metrics. Leaders at Manteca turned to EmCare, a national, full-service ED management company, to manage the rising patient volume and streamline throughput.

The Solution
EmCare site managers spent six weeks with the ED team, evaluating operations, patient volume and constraints on space and time. During the process, EmCare worked with Manteca’s clinicians to transform the ED space, expanding the fast-track area for low acuity patients. Patients needing critical care services began receiving faster care from transfer agreements EmCare coordinated with Manteca’s sister hospital.

EmCare also tapped into its national clinician database to recruit more than 100 physicians and mid-level providers. This allowed Manteca the security of double, sometimes triple, coverage during peak times. Under the solid leadership of Site Medical Director John Woodbury, MD, the emergency department team implemented new programs focused on improving communication between patients and the medical staff. All patients received explanations of their treatment plan and could rely on updates about possible delays. As the patient volume became more manageable, EmCare assisted the clinical staff with implementing its new EMR system and provided training to make the new EMR system more user-friendly, thereby boosting productivity.

The Result
In 2011, Manteca was one of eight hospitals to join Tenet’s Circle of Excellence for service quality and operational performance.

Prominently located on the home page of Manteca’s website is a timer displaying the ED’s average wait time. A visitor to the site will rarely see a double-digit number. Even during peak times, the ED has managed to reduce long waits for service.

Turnaround times for ED laboratory and radiology results decreased, and the left without being seen (LWBS) rate dropped to 1.6 percent on average for the 24,000 patients who visit the ED each year.

Since partnering with EmCare more than 10 years ago, Manteca has consistently garnered applause from Tenet Healthcare Corporation: In each quarter of 2010, Manteca achieved the company’s four and five-star status for patient satisfaction and was named one of Tenet’s top three performers among the company’s 49 acute care hospitals.