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Patient throughput times and inflow patterns in Swedish emergency departments. A basis for ANSWER, A National SWedish Emergency Registry

Ekelund, Ulf LU orcid ; Kurland, Lisa ; Eklund, Fredrik ; Torkki, Paulus ; Letterstal, Anna ; Lindmarker, Per and Castren, Maaret (2011) In Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine 19.
Abstract
Objective: Quality improvement initiatives in emergency medicine (EM) often suffer from a lack of benchmarking data on the quality of care. The objectives of this study were twofold: 1. To assess the feasibility of collecting benchmarking data from different Swedish emergency departments (EDs) and 2. To evaluate patient throughput times and inflow patterns. Method: We compared patient inflow patterns, total lengths of patient stay (LOS) and times to first physician at six Swedish university hospital EDs in 2009. Study data were retrieved from the hospitals' computerized information systems during single on-site visits to each participating hospital. Results: All EDs provided throughput times and patient presentation data without... (More)
Objective: Quality improvement initiatives in emergency medicine (EM) often suffer from a lack of benchmarking data on the quality of care. The objectives of this study were twofold: 1. To assess the feasibility of collecting benchmarking data from different Swedish emergency departments (EDs) and 2. To evaluate patient throughput times and inflow patterns. Method: We compared patient inflow patterns, total lengths of patient stay (LOS) and times to first physician at six Swedish university hospital EDs in 2009. Study data were retrieved from the hospitals' computerized information systems during single on-site visits to each participating hospital. Results: All EDs provided throughput times and patient presentation data without significant problems. In all EDs, Monday was the busiest day and the fewest patients presented on Saturday. All EDs had a large increase in patient inflow before noon with a slow decline over the rest of the 24 h, and this peak and decline was especially pronounced in elderly patients. The average LOS was 4 h of which 2 h was spent waiting for the first physician. These throughput times showed a considerable diurnal variation in all EDs, with the longest times occurring 6-7 am and in the late afternoon. Conclusion: These results demonstrate the feasibility of collecting benchmarking data on quality of care targets within Swedish EM, and form the basis for ANSWER, A National SWedish Emergency Registry. (Less)
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author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Emergency department, Quality measures, Quality of care, Throughput, times, Registry
in
Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine
volume
19
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • wos:000292937600001
  • scopus:79958276782
  • pmid:21668987
ISSN
1757-7241
DOI
10.1186/1757-7241-19-37
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d2ccd356-abaf-4e8d-940c-10e218f7906d (old id 2072581)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:09:51
date last changed
2024-01-09 23:46:32
@article{d2ccd356-abaf-4e8d-940c-10e218f7906d,
  abstract     = {{Objective: Quality improvement initiatives in emergency medicine (EM) often suffer from a lack of benchmarking data on the quality of care. The objectives of this study were twofold: 1. To assess the feasibility of collecting benchmarking data from different Swedish emergency departments (EDs) and 2. To evaluate patient throughput times and inflow patterns. Method: We compared patient inflow patterns, total lengths of patient stay (LOS) and times to first physician at six Swedish university hospital EDs in 2009. Study data were retrieved from the hospitals' computerized information systems during single on-site visits to each participating hospital. Results: All EDs provided throughput times and patient presentation data without significant problems. In all EDs, Monday was the busiest day and the fewest patients presented on Saturday. All EDs had a large increase in patient inflow before noon with a slow decline over the rest of the 24 h, and this peak and decline was especially pronounced in elderly patients. The average LOS was 4 h of which 2 h was spent waiting for the first physician. These throughput times showed a considerable diurnal variation in all EDs, with the longest times occurring 6-7 am and in the late afternoon. Conclusion: These results demonstrate the feasibility of collecting benchmarking data on quality of care targets within Swedish EM, and form the basis for ANSWER, A National SWedish Emergency Registry.}},
  author       = {{Ekelund, Ulf and Kurland, Lisa and Eklund, Fredrik and Torkki, Paulus and Letterstal, Anna and Lindmarker, Per and Castren, Maaret}},
  issn         = {{1757-7241}},
  keywords     = {{Emergency department; Quality measures; Quality of care; Throughput; times; Registry}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{Scandinavian Journal of Trauma, Resuscitation and Emergency Medicine}},
  title        = {{Patient throughput times and inflow patterns in Swedish emergency departments. A basis for ANSWER, A National SWedish Emergency Registry}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/3820952/2214220.pdf}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/1757-7241-19-37}},
  volume       = {{19}},
  year         = {{2011}},
}