Hosp Case Manag. 2011 Sep;19(9):142-3.
With patient satisfaction in the single digits and door-to-doc times unacceptably high, the ED at Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin, TN, initiated a staff-driven improvement effort aimed at weeding out inefficiencies. By putting the triage process under close scrutiny, staff members were able to eliminate dozens of tasks from the triage process, thereby slashing wait times. ED patient satisfaction has gone from the 5th percentile to the 98th percentile in just four months. A 44-step triage process has been streamlined into four steps, and average door-to-doc times have decreased from 67 minutes to 18 minutes. Further improvements are anticipated when ED administrators put staff scheduling under the same scrutiny.
田纳西州加勒廷市萨姆纳地区医疗中心的急诊科患者满意度仅为个位数，患者从进门到见到医生的时间长得令人无法接受，于是该科室发起了一项由员工推动的改进工作，旨在消除低效环节。通过对分诊流程进行严格审查，工作人员得以从分诊流程中剔除了几十项任务，从而大幅缩短了等待时间。仅仅四个月内，急诊科患者满意度就从第5百分位升至第98百分位。一个44步的分诊流程已精简为4步，平均从进门到见到医生的时间也从67分钟降至18分钟。预计当急诊科管理人员对员工排班进行同样严格的审查时，还会有进一步的改进。
