From ED to D/C Improving patient through-put

Challenge

A 750-bed hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina was looking to improve patient through-put, specifically from an overcrowded Emergency Department (ED) to inpatient beds. At the time, manual communications between the ED and patient placement consisted of half a dozen phone calls, physically “walking the floors” to find available beds, and incomplete or inaccurate paper documents that led to significant delays in moving patients from the ED to an available in-patient bed. At issue were missed revenue opportunities with ED diversions, productivity and efficiency problems and patient satisfaction elements.

Solution

The hospital chose to implement TeleTracking Technologies’ Bed Management Suite™. This unique technology capitalizes on the hospital’s existing telephone system with intelligent Interactive Voice Response (iIVR™), workflow automation software and computer terminals, including a 50” plasma screen. Upon patient discharge, the BedTracking® component automatically dispatches Environmental Services (via pagers) to clean a room within a pre-determined timeframe. This bed status is immediately updated in the BedTracking® software, as well as the integrated PreAdmitTracking™ with electronic bedboard®. This information, in conjunction with the PreAdmitTracking™ data, shows the status of every bed in the hospital (occupied, dirty, in progress, clean) and the status of in-patients (pending or confirmed discharges).

Results

The Bed Management Suite™ gives Patient Placement Professionals complete knowledge of the status of every patient and every bed in the hospital. Patient Status (current or pending discharge) and Bed Status (occupied, dirty, in progress, clean) is all available at a glance — and in real time. The hospital is now able to increase bed turnover, shorten patient wait times in the ED, and even estimate staffing resources based upon the number of confirmed and pending patient discharges seen on the screen.

Source – “Curing ER gridlock”; The News & Observer, Wednesday, July 10, 2002.

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As part of an organizational culture that continually fosters change, we are confident with the data provided by TeleTracking™, knowledge of recent successes (and failures), and continued executive support that we will continue to identify and implement future initiatives to improve patient progression through the health system and enhance operational revenue.

Denise Pruitt, MT (ASCP), MPH
Administrative Director, Patient Progression

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