Implementing wait-time reductions under Ontario government benchmarks (Pay-for-Results): a Cluster Randomized Trial of the Effect of a Physician-Nurse Supplementary Triage Assistance team (MDRNSTAT) on emergency department patient wait times

BMC Emergency Medicine

Research Article

Jacques Lee¹  Fergus Kerr²  Merrick Zwarenstein³  Jeffrey Tyberg⁴  Ivy Cheng⁵  Nicole Mittmann⁶  Alex Kiss⁷  Michael Schull⁷  Sharon Ramagnano⁸ 

[1] Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Toronto, Canada;Department of Emergency Medicine, Austin Health, Heidelberg, Australia;Department of Family Medicine - Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Canada;Emergency Services, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Toronto, Canada;Emergency Services, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center, Toronto, Canada;Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden;HOPE Research Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada;Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Canada;Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada;

关键词: Emergency Department;    Emergency Physician;    Combine Group;    Intervention Cluster;    Emergency Department Patient;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-227X-13-17

 received in 2012-11-26, accepted in 2013-11-01,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundInternationally, emergency departments are struggling with crowding and its associated morbidity, mortality, and decreased patient and health-care worker satisfaction. The objective was to evaluate the addition of a MDRNSTAT (Physician (MD)-Nurse (RN) Supplementary Team At Triage) on emergency department patient flow and quality of care.MethodsPragmatic cluster randomized trial. From 131 weekday shifts (8:00–14:30) during a 26-week period, we randomized 65 days (3173 visits) to the intervention cluster with a MDRNSTAT presence, and 66 days (3163 visits) to the nurse-only triage control cluster. The primary outcome was emergency department length-of-stay (EDLOS) for patients managed and discharged only by the emergency department. Secondary outcomes included EDLOS for patients initially seen by the emergency department, and subsequently consulted and admitted, patients reaching government-mandated thresholds, time to initial physician assessment, left-without being seen rate, time to investigation, and measurement of harm.ResultsThe intervention’s median EDLOS for discharged, non-consulted, high acuity patients was 4:05 [95th% CI: 3:58 to 4:15] versus 4:29 [95th% CI: 4:19–4:38] during comparator shifts. The intervention’s median EDLOS for discharged, non-consulted, low acuity patients was 1:55 [95th% CI: 1:48 to 2:05] versus 2:08 [95th% CI: 2:02–2:14]. The intervention’s median physician initial assessment time was 0:55 [95th% CI: 0:53 to 0:58] versus 1:21 [95th% CI: 1:18 to 1:25]. The intervention’s left-without-being-seen rate was 1.5% versus 2.2% for the control (p = 0.06). The MDRNSTAT subgroup analysis resulted in significant decreases in median EDLOS for discharged, non-consulted high (4:01 [95th% CI: 3:43–4:16]) and low acuity patients (1:10 95th% CI: 0:58–1:19]), as well as physician initial assessment time (0:25 [95th% CI: 0:23–0:26]). No patients returned to the emergency department after being discharged by the MDRNSTAT at triage.ConclusionsThe intervention reduced delays and left-without-being-seen rate without increased return visits or jeopardizing urgent care of severely ill patients.Trial registration numberNCT00991471 ClinicalTrials.gov

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Cheng et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013