Simple triage protocol cuts ER wait times without adding beds or staff, new study finds
Emergency departments across the country face a common challenge: how to reduce long wait times without adding more beds, hiring more staff or expanding facilities. New research suggests one answer may be hiding in plain sight—making better decisions about where patients receive care.
Emergency departments nationwide grapple with the issue of long wait times, which can be mitigated without adding beds, staff, or expanding facilities. A study in the Management Science journal proposes a data-driven triage protocol that shortened emergency department stay by 11 minutes without compromising patient safety or needing extra resources.
Harvard University, Oxford University, and Mayo Clinic researchers developed a protocol to identify patients suitable for seated treatment areas, known as a vertical processing pathway, rather than traditional emergency department beds. The protocol, based on a machine-learning model and mathematical models of patient flow, was implemented in a 13-week trial involving 11,015 patients at Mayo Clinic Arizona's new emergency department.
The results showed measurable improvements in efficiency, with no increase in 72-hour return visits. The protocol, requiring no additional staff, beds, equipment, or software, could generate significant capacity and potential revenue for many emergency departments.
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