Reduced Wait Times, More Efficient Emergency Departments

In an article published by New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, Kings County Hospital Center implemented a reorganization of their emergency department.

Some of the changes to their emergency department were the following:

• They changed the greeter at the front door to a nurse instead of a security guard
• Triage nurse interviews a patient, performs an assessment, and identifies patient level of urgency - after this is complete their vital signs and a complete assessment are taken.
• They changed their department from staff-centered to patient-centered

Overall, the following improvements occurred at King County Hospital Center:

• Wait time had an improvement of 50% (from 31 minutes to only 15 minutes)
• Pediatric wait time dropped to 20 minutes from 52 minutes
  
• The article also shows success stories from 3 other hospitals in the New York area.

To view the full article, please click the following link: Reduced Wait Times, More Efficient Emergency Rooms

For additional resources, please click the following link: Medical Reimbursement Billing and Coding Resources