Improvements at St. Bernards Medical Center ED Recognized with VHA Award
Quality Improvement Team Enhances Throughput and Patient Care
Improvements Lead to 2010 VHA Emergency Department Award
St. Bernards Medical Center
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Annual ED Visits: 50,000
The Challenge
With more than 50,000 patients coming to the emergency department annually, St. Bernards Medical Center needed a process that would allow the medical staff to successfully manage wait times, length of stay and left without been seen percentages for its growing patient population.
The Solution
EmCare was awarded the contract and immediately went to work with hospital leaders to develop and implement an “ED Throughput Team” that addressed all areas of patient flow, from door-to-discharge. The team implemented a triage as well as a registration process simultaneously, allowing patients to be triaged upon arrival and registered at the bedside. Staffing changes were implemented for nurses that better mirrored patient load without adding additional staffing hours. Additional changes allowed more beds to be opened earlier while providing additional staff for later shifts.
Working with the EmCare-affiliated physicians, the facility also initiated an “ED Quality Improvement Team” that promoted stellar practice and patient outcomes. The team promoted the development of onsite nursing education programs that included a Trauma Nursing Core Course and ongoing leadership and triage training.
The Results
As the result of these programs, the facility showed significant improvement in critical ED metrics and was awarded the 2010 VHA Emergency Department Award for improvement in the “left without
being seen” rate and overall length of stay in the ED.
- Average Length of Stay: Decreased from 3.78 hours to 2.96 hours
- Arrival to Doctor Time: Reduced from 142 minutes in Jan. 2007 to 6 minutes in 2009.
- Left Without Being Seen: Reduced from 106 minutes in Jan. 2007 to 4 minutes in Dec. 2009.