PROCESS IMPROVEMENT FOR EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT FAST TRACK

Abstract

A modification within triage was created to assist with the differentiation of fast track and non-fast track patients in an urban, nontrauma center emergency department. The process improvement project intended to have fast track appropriate patients ready for provider evaluation in a decrease time frame. The triage modification reduced the number of questions asked to fast track patients to four. Overall, the goal was to demonstrate that earlier provider evaluation decreased total patient length of stay for fast track patients. However, the process improvement project was terminated early due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the winter/early spring of 2020. There was minimal data collection specific to fast track, but overall departmental data suggests that when providers evaluate patients in a timely manner, the total patient length of stay time decreases.