Problem

The latest quality report showed that the average (median) time from emergency department (ED) arrival to transfer to the inpatient unit at your facility was above the national average of 275 minutes (4.5 hours, based on current Hospital Compare data). Your quality improvement team will review some emergency department data to help determine where there may be issues affecting wait times (Download the ED data spreadsheet here). The length of time patients wait to be admitted to the unit or discharged from the Emergency Department (ED) exceeds the quality goal set by your hospital of 275 minutes (which is the same as the national average benchmark). Write a 3-4 page paper (in APA format) that:

1. Calculate the wait times for each patient and determine if they are consistently above or below the 275 minute average.

2. Identifies the tools that could be used to gather information about the wait times (such as number of patients being registered, patient volume by time of day or staffing).

3. Determines the departments and units that could be involved in improving this issue.

4. Selects the tools that would be needed to collect data.