Do Automated Reminders for Emergency Department Resident Physicians to Review Their Patient List Improve Efficiency?

OBJECTIVES

Navigating the emergency department (ED) workflow in an efficient manner is an important skill every emergency physician or advanced provider must master. There is a paucity of research into ways to improve how efficiently an ED provider works amid these distractions. This study seeks to determine whether the addition of an hourly automated reminder for resident physicians to review their patient list improves throughput metrics.

METHODS

This a double-blinded randomized controlled trial in which resident physicians at a single community ED were randomly assigned to two groups: the intervention group, which received automated hourly notifications within the electronic medical record (EMR) to review their patient list for those whose workup is completed, and the control group, which received no notifications. We prospectively analyzed records for 25,255 encounters with 19,264 individual patients seen by 64 residents over the study period. Three-level mixed-effects regression models were used to examine whether notifications improved ED length of stay (ED-LOS), turnaround time to discharge (TAT-D), or turnaround time to admission (TAT-A).

RESULTS

There was no statistically significant difference in ED-LOS or TAT-D between groups, but the average TAT-A was 20.00 minutes longer in the intervention group compared to the control group (p < 0.001), after accounting for patient- and resident-specific effects. Secondary analysis demonstrated no statistically significant effect of residency specialty on the effect of notifications on ED-LOS, TAT-D, or TAT-A.

CONCLUSIONS

Automated hourly notifications within the EMR reminding residents in the ED to review their patient list did not reduce the ED-LOS, TAT-D, or TAT-A. However, the TAT-A was 20.00 minutes longer in the intervention group compared to the control group. It is unclear whether this represents an unintended effect of the automated reminders or is simply a spurious correlation.