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Implementation of an early attention strategy to reduce emergency room overcrowding in an academic institution in
German Devia Jaramillo1, Nathalia Esmeral Zuluaga2, Viviana Andrea Velandia Avellaneda2
1Fundación Santafé de Bogotá. Grupo de Investigación Clínica, Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de La Salud, Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá, Colombia. german.devia@urosario.edu.co.
Insights
Implementing an early care protocol (PAT) in Colombian emergency departments significantly reduces patient definition time and emergency department length of stay (EDLOS). This approach helps alleviate patient overcrowding and improve care efficiency.
Area of Science:
- Emergency Medicine
- Healthcare Management
- Public Health
Background:
- Hospital overcrowding and long emergency department (ED) waiting times are global issues linked to increased patient morbidity and mortality.
- Effective tools to reduce ED length of stay (EDLOS) are scarce for the Colombian population.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the impact of an early care protocol (PAT) on patient definition time and EDLOS in a Colombian emergency department.
- To compare the effectiveness of the PAT protocol against the usual care protocol in reducing ED overcrowding.
Main Methods:
- A retrospective analytical study was conducted involving 969 patients.
- Patient data were compared between a group managed under the early care protocol (PAT) and a group managed under the usual protocol.
Main Results:
- Patients managed under the PAT protocol demonstrated a significantly shorter patient definition time compared to the usual protocol.
- The PAT protocol resulted in a significantly lower emergency department length of stay (EDLOS) than the usual protocol.
Conclusions:
- Early implementation of the PAT protocol by emergency physicians expedites patient contact.
- The PAT protocol effectively reduces EDLOS, contributing to the mitigation of emergency department overcrowding.
Abstract:
Overcrowding is a worldwide problem, and long waiting times are associated with increased morbidity and even mortality of patients regardless of triage classification. Although there are many tools published in the literature that contribute to the reduction of overcrowding, for the Colombian population there are not many tools evaluated to reduce the length of stay of patients in the emergency department. This is a retrospective analytical study that compared whether there was a difference in patient definition time and ED length of stay between a group attended under an early care protocol (PAT) versus the usual protocol. Of the total of 969 patients included it was found that the group attended under the PAT protocol had a shorter definition time than the usual protocol, also the Emergency department length of stay (EDLOS) was significantly lower in the PAT group compared to the usual protocol. The implementation of the PAT protocol performed by emergency physicians allows a faster contact with the patient by the physician, and leads to a significant reduction of EDLOS, contributing to the reduction of overcrowding in the emergency department.
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