Improving Emergency Department (ED) Patient Flow and Minimizing Patient Wait Times
In order to develop an organized process that supports program development to resolve a health care administration issue or barrier, it is important to identify the resources, stakeholders, and outcomes. Use the “Logic Model Template” and create detailed inputs, outputs, and outcomes for your identified health care administration issue or barrier. Make sure to consider any legislation or regulation that governs your field or your programmatic development. You will use your logic model to develop your research paper.
Logic Model Template
Improving Emergency Department (ED) Patient Flow and Minimizing Patient Wait Times
| Inputs The needed resources | Outputs Activities, Goals | Project Outcomes / Goal Short Medium Long |
| Attain change outcome: improve patient flow in the ED, no patient overcrowding in the ED, improve patient satisfaction |
| All stakeholders accept the change, acceptance of policy changes, educate stakeholders about the change |
| Participants will understand the need for the change and the potential benefits of the change |
| Project Assumptions Change project is needed to reduce patient overcrowding within the emergency department (ED) area at the hospital and improve the flow of patients. Because of overcrowding at the ED, many patients leave the hospital without being treated or attended to (Sayah et al., 2014). Patient crowding at the emergency department contributes to delays in commencement of treatment and a decrease in the quality of patient care (Pines & Hollander, 2013). The stakeholders are invested in the project because they are keen on improving the flow of patients within the emergency department and ultimately reduce the amount of time that a patient spends in the emergency department.Reducing patient wait times in the ED will not only improve patient satisfaction but also reduce morbidity and mortality (Richard & Jarvis, 2016). |
| Conduct interviews and focus groups with staffs at the emergency department, as well as with the hospital’s administration and managers to identify barriers to patient care |
| ED staffs including nurses and doctors Funding Space in the ED Educational materials Stakeholders |
| Explore the identified barriers to quality patient care in the emergency department Determine any opportunities for change to improve care |
References
Pines, J. M., & Hollander, J. E. (2013). Emergency department crowding is associated with poor care for patients with severe pain. Ann Emerg Med, 51(8): 1–5
Richard, P., & Jarvis, E. (2016). Improving emergency department patient flow. Clin Exp Emerg Med, 3(2): 63-68.
Sayah, A., Rogers, L., Devarajan, K., Rocker-Kingsley, L., & Lobon, L. F. (2014). Minimizing ED waiting times and improving patient flow and experience of care. Emergency Medicine International, 24(8): 1-8