ED Renovations Underway
To improve the overall patient experience, including reducing wait times and improving flow, the Department of Emergency Medicine is beginning a renovation project that will continue throughout 2010.
“Our Emergency Department provides a critical service for our community, as well as serving as a key point of access for the institution,” said Richard Zane, MD, vice chair of Emergency Medicine. “After a detailed and extensive process that included input from staff across the institution at all levels from hospital leadership to the front line, we are re-engineering the entire process by which patients are cared for in our ED to ensure patients continue to receive and have access to the highest quality care in a timely fashion.”
The work will occur in phases. The first phase, which is complete, saw new areas for ED staging and storage and the relocation of the OB inpatient check-in area to a new location closer to the main entry.
Phase two started in April with work that is more visible in the atrium lobby and ED. Changes include a new lounge seating area in the open atrium and closure of the existing lounge area. Also, there is a new but temporary ED patient waiting area and closure of a portion of the existing ED waiting area and triage area. ED staff areas and offices will be relocated temporarily, as well.
Most of the renovations will be within the ED’s existing footprint, and the project aims to make the ED more patient-centered. Although the ED won’t gain a significant amount of square footage, the process redesign eliminates parallel processing, leading to a more streamlined and efficient care model. During this next phase, patients will begin to see changes in front-end processes including rapid check-in and assessment, bedside registration and reduced “door-to-doc” time.
Patients may be registered at the bedside, where staff can obtain identification and begin diagnostic tests. The ED also will employ a team approach for collaborative assessment with a clinical staff nurse at the registration desk, and patients who have registered will be able to wait for care in an internal ED waiting room.
When complete, the ED will boast a third 12-bay pod or Charlie Pod, with clinical space to care for any patient.
BWH’s Emergency Department is the front door for key patient populations and the point of entry for many patients who require specialty care. Last year alone, the ED received more than 57,000 patient visits, approximately 30 percent of whom required hospital admission. Only 15 percent of patient visits were classified as low acuity.