INDIANAPOLIS – As hospital emergency rooms across the nation strive to operate more efficiently and effectively to reduce overcrowding and related issues, St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers is one of six hand-selected hospitals to participate in a program designed enhance its overall performance.The ER department at St. Francis Hospital-Indianapolis has implemented Urgent Matters, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded learning network. “Team ER,” as the department has dubbed itself, is developing ways to work collaboratively, devise performance measures, assess existing operation and develop strategies to improve ER operations.
“Emergency room crowding is a well known and critical issue hospitals need to understand and address with the goal of providing the best possible care to the patients in their communities,” said Jason Kaufman, R.N., director of Emergency Services for St. Francis’ hospitals in Indianapolis, Beech Grove and Mooresville. “Overcrowding is not just an emergency room problem – it’s a challenge to all hospitals with ERs.”
As part of Urgent Matters, St. Francis has established a standardized triage process (evaluation of incoming patients’ conditions) and is working to educate and train emergency staff on new polices and procedures, designed collaboratively by staff and tested using rapid cycle change processes. This collaborative approach led to the development of informal leaders and improved communication between the emergency and other hospital departments.
Patty Heffner, R.N., ER manager and Urgent Matters project leader at St. Francis-Indianapolis, says the improved communications as one of the most successful outcomes and that the hospital plans to use the Urgent Matters structure in other quality improvement projects.
“The St. Francis team is addressing the sustainability of the Urgent Matters project by creating an ER workgroup to monitor and improve triage processes, and develop a training program for the new patient intake policies and processes,” Heffner said.
Patient volumes at St. Francis emergency rooms have been steadily on the increase. In 2009, the Indianapolis campus saw 41,000 patients; Beech Grove, 42,000, and the recently opened Mooresville ER had 5,000 visits.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control report that from 1996 to 2006, the number of annual ER visits grew from 90.3 million to 119.2 million nationally. Meanwhile, the number of hospitals with ERs has fallen from 5,000 to 4,000 during that period.
Other hospitals participating in Urgent Matters: Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center and Stony Brook University Medical Center (both of New York), Hahnemann University Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Westmoreland Regional Hospital (all of Pennsylvania).
St. Francis-Indianapolis and these hospitals are collaborating through a network structure to test new ideas, quantify results and share lessons they have learned. Program successes will be shared nationally that can be adopted at other hospitals.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control report that from 1996 to 2006, the number of annual ER visits grew from 90.3 million to 119.2 million nationally. Meanwhile, the number of hospitals with ERs has fallen from 5,000 to 4,000 during that period.
Other hospitals participating in Urgent Matters: Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center and Stony Brook University Medical Center (both of New York), Hahnemann University Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Westmoreland Regional Hospital (all of Pennsylvania).
St. Francis-Indianapolis and these hospitals are collaborating through a network structure to test new ideas, quantify results and share lessons they have learned. Program successes will be shared nationally that can be adopted at other hospitals.
