A wound-care process model improves emergency department turnaround time

Numerous studies demonstrate that patient satisfaction correlates with perceived timeliness of care. Turnaround time data identified Laceration patients as a subset of emergency department patients who were not receiving high-quality care. With the Define-Measure-Analyze- Devise-Verify methodology, root causes of delay in operations were sought, and remedies were devised. An education module and an improved patient-care process model were implemented. Through the use of continuous quality improvement, a wound-care process model improved turnaround times for laceration care by 30 minutes.