Community Connection Newsletter

Summer, 2011

COVER STORY:
Revamping Emergency Care

Alta Bates Summit's Highly Skilled Emergency Medical Teams Work in Concert - For You!

Few places are as unpredictable—or as vital—as an Emergency Department. “Up to 20 or more patients could show up to be seen within an hour’s time,” says Fred Pitts, M.D., medical director, Summit Emergency Department (ED). “That can be very challenging, given that many of them could be very ill.”

Every patient who has a medical emergency needs efficient, quality care from an experienced and friendly medical team. So Alta Bates Summit’s Emergency Departments have been retooling every aspect of the process—from registering patients to processing lab studies—all to enhance emergency care.

One Team Saving Countless Lives

Teamwork has become a focus in the ED on both campuses, with the lines of communication wide open and patient care coordinated like clockwork. “The ED is a busy place, so everybody is One Team [the EDs’ new motto], taking care of the patient together,” says Dr. Pitts.

That begins with paramedics from Alameda County and surrounding counties as well as other first responders like fire departments and independent ambulance services. “We reached out to our Emergency Management System group and changed the way we work with them, bringing them into the One Team concept,” Teresa says.

Alta Bates Summit also implemented a nurse first initiative, so every patient who arrives at the ED is greeted by a nurse. “The benefit is that you have somebody with clinical acumen and experience who rapidly assesses the patient,” explains Benjamin Lerman, M.D., medical director of the Alta Bates Emergency Department. “Anything that we can do to decrease the patient’s stress and get them comfortable and treated faster is to the good.”

In another efficiency move, patients complete a mini-registration upon arrival—providing just their name, birth date and a few other basic identifiers. Full registration, including insurance information, takes place later. “This guarantees that nothing stands in the way of treatment being rendered and that financial considerations never play any part in our decision making,” Dr. Lerman says.

That helps with the teams’ next goal—immediate bedding. Whenever possible, the patient is taken to an ED bed immediately, rather than first spending time in the triage area.

ED teams also use electronic medical records, which speed the entire process. “When I put in an order for an X-ray, that order bypasses the clerk and goes directly to radiology, which cuts half an hour off the time,” says Dr. Lerman. “I order the X-ray while I’m at the bedside, and the X-ray tech often arrives with the machine before I even leave the room.”

Follow-up After the ED

Of course, some ED patients need to remain in the hospital, so the ED teams are also working closely with the staff on the hospital floors to ensure that a hospital bed is ready for them. Nurses receive ongoing data about wait times, and if the ED begins to fill up, meetings are held to strategize placement of patients who need to be moved onto a hospital floor.

After ED patients return home, many are surprised to get a wellness call from the ED staff who cared for them, something that is now standard practice at Alta Bates Summit. “Both nurses and physicians call patients a day or two after we’ve seen them, just to see how they’re doing, and patients appreciate that,” Dr. Lerman says.

Patients usually arrive at the ED feeling worried and anxious, so the various changes that have been implemented are designed to put them at ease and get them treated as quickly as possible. As Dr. Pitts says, “We turn no one away, and we try to give the best possible care to every patient who comes to us.”