ED Wait Times

[systemet]

Edit: changed a single word to remove some unintentional ambiguity.

Edit2: decided better not to post.

Edited January 6, 2013 by systemet

[MikeEMT]

We don't have any lengthy wait times at any of our ER's. I guess we are lucky.

@Mike-Why do you get a set of vitals at the ER and why are you waiting for a vital tree? I have never gotten a set of vitals in the ER for someone I'm bringing in...Just curious.

It is University of Washington policy. When we roll into Harborview (which is part of UW) or UW Medical Center, the triage nurse requires us to take vitals for them. UWMC is a little more lienent than Harborview. UWMC we do it more as a courtesy, Harborview wont even look at our patient until we have vitals.

That said, they use common sense. If patient is critical they get a room right away and don't have to wait for vitals. Patient care is never compromised for us to get vitals.

Its a pretty efficient process with a lot ongoing all at once that gets the patient into their room quickly.

[Happiness]

I have to say I have never had to wait

[Kiwiology]

Probably 20 minutes. It's not the Ambulance Officer's job to babysit the patients, once the hospital is aware of their arrival they can be parked in the waiting room or wherever, in a bed up against the wall if need be, hand in your hospital copy of the PRF off, do a quick cleanup/restock and clear.

[spenac]

We don't have any lengthy wait times at any of our ER's. I guess we are lucky.

@Mike-Why do you get a set of vitals at the ER and why are you waiting for a vital tree? I have never gotten a set of vitals in the ER for someone I'm bringing in...Just curious.

Maybe they do that rather than get a final set in the ambulance like the rest of us? Maybe someone came up with some wild only way to prove you dropped patient off at the ER? Never heard of it either so really grasping at straws.

[paramatt_]

This continues to be problem where I work. No free beds in the wards, and things get gridlocked in emergency. Or more frequently its just busy and we’ll have a patient who is not suitable for the waiting room and not sick enough to go through to the resus area thus we end up looking after them.

We’ll continue to provide care, on occasion we’ll assist by taking bloods, go with the patient to x-ray, etc. Not an ideal situation by any means. Once in a while a patient will be seen by a specialist team and get admitted while still in our care, or more commonly, be assessed by an ED doc a sent home.

[EMS Solutions]

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[MikeEMT]

Maybe they do that rather than get a final set in the ambulance like the rest of us? Maybe someone came up with some wild only way to prove you dropped patient off at the ER? Never heard of it either so really grasping at straws.

Nope, we still need 2 sets in the ambo. Though with our short transport times that rarely happens and we can use that as our second set if we need to since we are still the ones taking it.

When you roll into Harborview triage is right in front of you. You hand your paperwork to registration if you have any otherwise they come and get the patients info. The driver will hook up the vitals tree and obtain a set of vitals while the tech talks to triage nurse. By the time the nurse is ready for vitals in their computer we have them completed. Bed is assigned, triage report given to us and we take patient to their bed. Total time from in the doors to bed is about 5 minutes. Of course unstable patients bypass this whole process and go directly to a bed with a trauma team waiting.

If ALS brings in an unstable patient they have called in a HEAR and Harborview will be ready. BLS doesn't call in HEAR's to Harborview (their orders not ours). If we roll in with an unstable patient the nurse will either recognize it by the condition or we will shout it out. They send us straight to a bed and page the appropriate team to respond.

Its a very efficient process and if you ever get to Harborview should observe it. Not sure if it would work for other systems as it requires team work from the BLS level all the way up to the dr's. They've been doing this for years so its ingrained into our system.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Nope, we still need 2 sets in the ambo. Though with our short transport times that rarely happens and we can use that as our second set if we need to since we are still the ones taking it.

When you roll into Harborview triage is right in front of you. You hand your paperwork to registration if you have any otherwise they come and get the patients info. The driver will hook up the vitals tree and obtain a set of vitals while the tech talks to triage nurse. By the time the nurse is ready for vitals in their computer we have them completed. Bed is assigned, triage report given to us and we take patient to their bed. Total time from in the doors to bed is about 5 minutes. Of course unstable patients bypass this whole process and go directly to a bed with a trauma team waiting.

If ALS brings in an unstable patient they have called in a HEAR and Harborview will be ready. BLS doesn't call in HEAR's to Harborview (their orders not ours). If we roll in with an unstable patient the nurse will either recognize it by the condition or we will shout it out. They send us straight to a bed and page the appropriate team to respond.

Its a very efficient process and if you ever get to Harborview should observe it. Not sure if it would work for other systems as it requires team work from the BLS level all the way up to the dr's. They've been doing this for years so its ingrained into our system.

no offense but it sounds like they are too lazy to do their own vitals. But don't fix it if it aint broke I guess.

[Arctickat]

Okay, seriously, WTF is a HEAR?