Emergency departments provide twenty-four hour care for life threatening, chronic and acute conditions. However, the increase utilization of emergency departments lead to overcrowding and an increase in the number of individuals that leave without being seen (LWBS) by a physician. “According to a Center for Disease Control and Prevention report on ED use in the United States in 2000, at least 1.8 million patients left emergency departments without being seen” (Johnson et al., 2009). This is a patient safety concern due the miss opportunity to catch possible life threatening conditions. The evidence reveals that a large number of these individuals are disproportionately patients with lower acuity for the visit, young, low income, uninsured,
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Data collected from January 2014 to October 2014 show average of 9% of patients left without being seen by a physician, and the door-to-provider time at 93 minutes. Add LOS data The aim of this paper is to provide a recommendation for a new triage process for the fast track patients that would affect the frequency and occurrence of patients who leave without being seen at Lenox Hill hospital emergency room. This is a concern for the department because the emergency department accounts for half of the admission to the hospital, and high volume of patients LWBS cause a loss of revenues for the hospital.
The emergency room at Lenox Hill …show more content…
It promulgates a system that delivers a teachable, auditable method of assigning clinical priority in emergency settings (Aacharya et al., 2013). Currently, the emergency room at Lenox Hill uses the Level 5 emergency severity index to categorize patients. The patients are assessed by the registered nurse and then given an ESI level. Patients with an ESI level of 1,2,3 (3 can go either way) are higher acuity patients and are taken to the acute side of the ED, while 4 and 5 are lower acuity or less urgent are triaged and then taken to the fast track area where they wait to be seen by a doctor. Frequently, these patients would have to wait for 3 hours or more before the doctor could see
Data collected from January 2014 to October 2014 show average of 9% of patients left without being seen by a physician, and the door-to-provider time at 93 minutes. Add LOS data The aim of this paper is to provide a recommendation for a new triage process for the fast track patients that would affect the frequency and occurrence of patients who leave without being seen at Lenox Hill hospital emergency room. This is a concern for the department because the emergency department accounts for half of the admission to the hospital, and high volume of patients LWBS cause a loss of revenues for the hospital.
The emergency room at Lenox Hill …show more content…
It promulgates a system that delivers a teachable, auditable method of assigning clinical priority in emergency settings (Aacharya et al., 2013). Currently, the emergency room at Lenox Hill uses the Level 5 emergency severity index to categorize patients. The patients are assessed by the registered nurse and then given an ESI level. Patients with an ESI level of 1,2,3 (3 can go either way) are higher acuity patients and are taken to the acute side of the ED, while 4 and 5 are lower acuity or less urgent are triaged and then taken to the fast track area where they wait to be seen by a doctor. Frequently, these patients would have to wait for 3 hours or more before the doctor could see