Interdisciplinary Design to Improve Fast Track in the Emergency Department

Delays in medical care will increase risks for patients. For this reason, timeliness of care is a public health priority and the one of the missions for this facility. The goal of this process improvement project was to enhance timeliness of care by restructuring fast track. Door-to-provider time, treat and release time, and the number of patients who left without being seen by a provider were monitored. Nurse practitioners were introduced into advanced practice provider mix and the development of care teams was implemented. The number of fast-track visits increased significantly to a projected 23,710 in 2017, whereas the door-to-provider time decreased to 48 min, treat and release times decreased to 162 min, and the number of patients who left without being seen decreased to 4.7%. Work needs to continue in these areas in to exceed Medicare and Medicaid Services benchmarks.