Awareness of Emergency Department Workforce about the Operational Metrics: A Cross-sectional Study

The awareness of the Emergency Department (ED) workforce about the department's operational guidelines and metrics is essential to optimize the workflow and reduce workload and patient revisits to the ED. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the knowledge of the ED workforce regarding operational metrics.

We conducted a national cross-sectional study using an online survey in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia between September and December 2020. ED personnel were studied regarding the ED operational metrics like laboratory/imaging turnaround times, ED length of stay, and patient revisits, linking them to quality care. Data was summarized and analyzed using the Jamovi statistical package.

One hundred sixty-six participants responded to our online survey. Ministry of Health hospitals represented the largest section (n=90, 54.2%), followed by academic hospitals (n=40, 24.1%). The frequencies of an exit block in the ED were reported as 2-3 days per week (29.5%), most days (24.7%), or daily (18.1%). 41% of the respondents did not know the metrics of lab and imaging turnaround time, while 21.7% did not know about the length of stay. Most respondents agreed that the principles of ED operation should be implemented in the training programs (88.6%) and reported their satisfaction with the productivity of their department in practicing effective operations (70.9%).

About one-third of the ED workers were unaware of the key operational metrics of the ED. However, the respondents believe that implementing operational metrics for ED increases the quality of medical care and should be part of the training programs.