Improving Emergency Department Throughput: Using a Pull Method of Patient Flow

Abstract

Practice Problem: Overcrowding in the emergency department (ED) has been shown to increase the length of hospital stay, adversely impact patient outcomes, and reduce patient satisfaction. Problems with overcrowding and throughput are often thought of as an ED-specific inefficiency; however, the issue is indicative of hospital-wide inefficiencies. PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was “For ED patients admitted to the medical-surgical unit at an acute medical center, will the implementation of a pull model for patient flow, when compared to the current push model, reduce admission delay and length of stay (LOS) within six weeks of implementation? Evidence: A total of 21 studies were identified in the literature that directly support the implementation of this project. Themes from the literature include delays adversely impact patients, ED throughput is directly affected by throughput of inpatient units, and bed ahead programs can improve throughput. Intervention: The primary intervention for this project was implementing a bed ahead process for the host facility. The nurse hand-off process was also altered to improve efficiency. Outcome: The project resulted in an improvement in the ED delay time. During the project, the mean admission delay time was reduced from 184 minutes to 112 minutes. Conclusion: Using a pull methodology effectively enhances ED throughput by reducing delays in the ED admission process.