Rethinking Traditional Emergency Department Care Models in a Post-Coronavirus Disease-2019 World.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Emergency Medicine
• Nursing Workforce Studies

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic significantly exacerbated the existing nursing shortage in U.S. emergency departments.
• This shortage has led to increased inpatient boarding, higher rates of patients leaving without being seen, and decreased patient satisfaction.

Approach:

• This paper reviews the pandemic's impact on the nursing shortage.
• It explores how emergency nurse-extenders can redesign emergency department systems to address operational challenges.
• Potential nurse-extenders include paramedics, EMTs, technicians, ancillary staff, scribes, and health sciences students.

Key Points:

• The pandemic's psychological toll and infection fears intensified nursing turnover.
• Training diverse healthcare workers to augment the ED workforce is proposed.
• Redistributing tasks from nurses to other trained personnel is a viable strategy.

Conclusions:

• Implementing emergency nurse-extenders can alleviate operational strain in emergency departments.
• This approach offers a sustainable solution for improving emergency department flow and care delivery in the post-pandemic era.