Question: Recently, the Hospital’s CEO and the Emergency Department Nurse Management have been totally consumed by their disappointment with the ED’s key performance metrics. As Emergency Department Medical Director (EDMD) and President of the Emergency Medicine Practice, I want to help achieve the needed improvements and have some ideas about what needs to be done. ...

Question: Recently, the Baltimore Sun published the article “Hospitals Try to Improve Emergency Wait Times” detailing efforts undertaken by hospitals in Maryland and Virginia to reduce waiting times in their emergency departments. The article focused mostly on the activities hospitals used to advertise their improved performance. There were few specifics regarding process improvements themselves. What’s ...

Question: Our emergency department personnel and the emergency physicians have tried various process improvement projects to upgrade the ER’s productivity and performance. They’ve made significant improvements but with the continuing growth in the department and the resulting pressures on the staff from the ancillaries and the in-patient areas we seem to be losing momentum. What else ...