Hospitals are hustling to rethink how they handle patients in the wake of a critical report on the Baltimore region?s emergency room capacity.
Greater Baltimore Medical Center adopted an Emergency Severity Index designed to make patient?s visits to the emergency department shorter and give more attention to those who need it most.
Traditional triage ? assessing who is in most dire need ? relied on taking patient?s vital signs and a visual evaluation by a triage nurse, said Nurse Paula Terzigni, clinical director of GBMC?s emergency department.
“It didn?t take into account any of the resources the patient would need once they receive treatment,” she said.
Now, people who need full evaluations but are stable can have a CT scan or ultrasound diagnostic ordered while their paperwork is processed and more critical patients are seen, she said. This speeds up treatment and frees up beds more quickly.
As Greater Baltimore nears an all-time high of caring for 60,000 patients this year, streamlining emergency treatment became a more pressing need, according to information released from hospital.
Based on computer algorithms and decades of medical research, the index divides patients into five levels and helps identify which patients must be seen by a physician immediately and which are stable enough to wait
“In the old days, people in the level three category might sit out there a long time,” Terzigni said. “It?s really about the safety of the patient.”
The system groups patients into five levels, from those with life-threatening conditions to people toothaches and earaches who can?t reach or don?t have a regular doctor.
“Emergency departments across the region and across the nation are facing an ever-increasing demand for service which oftentimes is straining hospital resources,” said John Wogan, chairman of emergency medicine, in a statement. “By implementing ESI, we hope to improve the flow and address many of the challenges to better meet the needs of our patients.”
