Care Management Unit Improves ED Flow

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

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The Grady Health System implemented the CMU process to improve flow in the Emergency Department. This toolkit provides specific solutions to ED overcrowding and low patient satisfaction levels by focusing on patients with specific diagnosis to improve access to primary care, decrease relapse rates, decrease short stay admissions, and decrease cost. The toolkit is available as a PDF and Adobe Reader is necessary to fully explore this toolkit.

Virtual Patient

The Virtual Patient app helps train medical professionals to improve their communication skills by practicing speaking with virtual patients.

Integrating speech-based interaction with University of Florida CISE Department's VirtualPeopleFactory offers a unique experience in interacting with virtual characters.

Care Management Unit Improves ED Flow

The Grady Health System implemented the CMU process to improve flow in the Emergency Department. This toolkit provides specific solutions to ED overcrowding and low patient satisfaction levels by focusing on patients with specific diagnosis to improve access to primary care, decrease relapse rates, decrease short stay admissions, and decrease cost. The toolkit is available as a PDF and Adobe Reader is necessary to fully explore this toolkit.

Improving Patient Satisfaction in the Emergency Department (ED) with a Call Back Clerk

In order to conduct individual patient follow-ups, a call back clerk phones discharged patients to inquire about the status of their medical conditions and their satisfaction with their providers. This information is compiled, trended, and utilized for quality improvement. A database is used to track phone calls and patient responses. This tool was implemented by Edward Hospital. The report is available as a PDF (requiring Adobe Reader) and includes job description, program description and procedure, and sample callback data entry screen.

Clinical Decision Unit

William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan implemented a Clinical Decision Unit in order to better monitor cardiac and other patients without using valuable inpatient space. Guidelines for the Clinical Decision Unit were developed based on best practices from hospitals around the country. In addition, strong support from both physicians and hospital leadership was instrumental in the success of the Clinical Decision Unit. The report is available as a PDF, requiring Adobe Reader.

Code Heart - Reducing Door-to-Balloon Time

Developed by Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, the goal of the Code Heart Tracking Tool is to reduce the time from when a heart attack patient's arrival at an

Comprehensive Diversion Reduction Plan

St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center developed a comprehensive diversion reduction plan to improve efficiency of hospital discharges and identified a team of individuals to oversee implementation of the plan. The plan sets guidelines for calling a “capacity code,” which triggers the implementation of protocols to quickly discharge eligible patients. The report is available as a PDF, requiring Adobe Reader.

Best Practice Initiative: Discharge Resource Room

The Regional Medical Center at Memphis implemented a discharge resource room (DRR) in order to free inpatient space for emergency department (ED) patients. Patients are moved to the ground floor DRR when they are ready to leave the hospital. This provides a comfortable space for them to receive discharge instructions from a registered nurse while wait for transportation to arrive. The report is available as a PDF, requiring Adobe Reader.

Improved Treatment of Asthma

The hospital created a multidisciplinary team to develop an improved protocol for asthma patients in the emergency department (ED). The result was the addition of a dedicated respiratory therapist in the ED for asthma patients along with a new standard of care for these patients in order to prevent return ED visits and reduce hospital length of stay. The report is available as a PDF (requiring Adobe Reader), and includes necessary forms and supporting documents.

Reducing Emergency Department Crowding Through the Full Capacity Protocol

Under the Full Capacity Protocol, when the emergency department (ED) is no longer able to evaluate and treat patients in a timely fashion due to lack of space, patients awaiting admission are transferred to acute care hallway beds on inpatient units. This protocol is implemented by the hospital Bed Coordinator with approval by the hospital Medical Director. The report is available as a PDF, requiring Adobe Reader.

Improving Staff Engagement: A Practical Toolkit

Developed by NHS Employers, this toolkit establishes and demonstrates that engaged staff are more productive and less prone to absenteeism. One of the main points is that investing extra time in hiring the right people and placing them in the right position is essential for success. This toolkit provides evidence of a link between engaged staff and the quality of patient care and satisfaction, in addition to actually saving money. This toolkit is available as a PDF and requires Adobe Reader.