Thursday, September 20, 2012

How to Avoid Ambulance Gridlock


Reducing the amount of gridlock caused by multiple ambulances waiting to transfer patients to hospital care results in a decrease in the amount of treatment wait time and faster turnaround.

An example of a strategy to decrease ambulance gridlock was developed at Valley Hospital Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The strategy was named "EM Xpress".

Some facts about EM Xpress:
  • Simlar to a car racing model comparing the pit crews to the Emergency Department staff
  • Reduces the Emergency Department wait time from 19 minutes to under 10 minutes
  • Increase of around 75 ambulances a day up from 52 ambulances a day
  • Runs from 11am to 11pm
The strategy works in the following way:
  1. Bring your patient to Valley Hospital
  2. Check-in with the Transfer of Care software
  3. Give report to the Charge Nurse or the EM Xpress personnel
  4. Offload your patient
  5. Done - the Charge Nurse will check you out – drive safely
To download and view the full strategy, please follow this link: How to Avoid Ambulance Gridlock

Other resources are available to assist you at the following link: Medical Reimbursement, Inc. Resources


*We are not affiliated nor endorsed by Valley Hospital Medical Center. The Urgent Matters article is used with permission on our website*