ED Collaborative

As a member of Adventist Health, San Joaquin Community Hospital (SJCH) is currently participating in a yearlong Emergency Department (ED) Collaborative. The goal of this system-wide project is to have superior EDs with exceptional results in patient throughput, quality and service.

The collaborative focuses on patient flow (wait times, door to admit times, processes, etc.), patient satisfaction and the quality of patient care as it relates to the system’s already standardized core measures for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, stroke and other clinical indicators. As a result, SJCH has seen significant improvements in the ED.

As our team began working on improving our ED flow we addressed several issues:

• Adjusted staffing patterns of nurses, secretaries, and technicians so more staff is available during peak times to meet patient volume.
• Physician schedules were enhanced to match patient arrival times and physician-to-patient ratios were decreased.
• A phlebotomist (for blood draws) is now dedicated to the ED during peak hours.
• Less urgent patient care area hours were increased from 12 hours to 24 hour coverage.
• Processes were put into place to decrease the time an admitted patient waits for a bed.

Our 2011 goals are to:

• Decrease the time a patient stays in the ED before going home to less than 120 minutes.
• Improve patient satisfaction by 20 percent.
• Decrease time from entry to ED to seeing the doctor to less than 30 minutes.
• Decrease turnaround time for diagnostic tests.

Angels in the ER

We have recently introduced “Angels in the ER,” a volunteer program designed to provide non-medical assistance to emergency room patients and their families. The Angels are a team of highly-trained volunteers who assist patients and families while receiving emergency care at SJCH. Their services include:

• Visiting with patients and families.
• Providing blankets and drinks to patients and their families.
• Providing coloring books and crayons for children.