Improve Your Emergency Room Patient Flow

Move your emergency room into the future and create a better patient experience.

By QJ Gottschalk

I was recently at the emergency room of a local hospital. It was, to say the least, a very confusing experience. Who was there first? What happens next? How long are we going to wait? Why does that person go in before we do? These were some of the questions I could see written on the faces around me. I knew there had to be a better way: to create a flow system to simplify the process and keep things running smoothly for patients and medical staff alike. Introducing the Service Systems Triage Flow Solution: move your emergency room into the future and create a better patient experience.

1 - Streamlines patient flow, which improves the level of service.

Having a clear and easy-to-understand flow system in place reduces the chance of skipping a patient, or patients being neglected. Know where your patient is in the journey at any given moment and see what still needs to be done. Give staff the power to make sure no patient is left untreated.

2 - Ensure the quality of your medical care, while keeping patients relaxed and staff in complete control.

“The key is to set realistic customer expectations, and then not to just meet them, but to exceed them — preferably in unexpected and helpful ways.” – Richard Branson

By eliminating the guesswork, patients feel more at ease and staff perform better. When the patient is informed about every step it gives them a sense of comfort. Staff now know which patients require attention first, how long they have been waiting, and can immediately see their triage priority displayed on a screen which gives them the tools to offer greater care to their patients.

3 - Digital logs.

“Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other.” – Bill Gates

Bring on the power of data! Management has visibility on exactly how well the emergency room staff are performing and can receive alerts when a patient has been waiting too long goes a long way toward preventing problems after treatment. Reports show you the details of each patient, when they entered, and how long they were at each step in their treatment process. Implementation of a triage flow system is quick and easy, and it will forever change the way your emergency room operates.