Dataset Information

Online Module to Improve Emergency Department Observation Unit Practice.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The emergency department (ED) observation unit has become a unique practice opportunity to liberate inpatient capacity in the United States. Substantial variations in clinical practice and level of comfort among ED providers existed in a large health care system. We aimed to study the effectiveness of an educational module targeted for emergency medicine providers.

Methods

We developed a 20-minute online module including pretest, learning module, and posttest. The format consisted of Likert-scale (1 = least comfortable, 5 = most comfortable), true-or-false, and multiple-choice questions. The learning module contained slides, script, and figures describing management strategy for commonly encountered conditions in the observation unit. The institutional review board granted exempted review. Pre- and posttest scores were evaluated with the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, and a p value of less than .05 was considered significant.

Results

Twenty-one participants completed the pretest, with a mean score of 63.8 (SD = 19.3), and 14 participants completed the posttest, with a mean score of 87.9 (SD = 9.7; p = .0001). Eight participants responded to a follow-up survey, a response rate of 57%. Responses demonstrated that levels of provider comfort in selection of observation (M = 4.3, SD = 1.5), choice of stress test for chest pain (M = 4.3, SD = 1.0), asthma management (M = 4.1, SD = 1.0), anaphylaxis care (M = 4.1, SD = 1.4), and documentation (M = 4.3, SD = 0.9) were high.

Discussion

An online learning module can be useful to enhance the knowledge of observation medicine among emergency medicine providers.

SUBMITTER: Lee S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6464449 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Online Module to Improve Emergency Department Observation Unit Practice.

Lee Sangil S Young Ian I Colletti James J

MedEdPORTAL : the journal of teaching and learning resources 20160708

<h4>Introduction</h4>The emergency department (ED) observation unit has become a unique practice opportunity to liberate inpatient capacity in the United States. Substantial variations in clinical practice and level of comfort among ED providers existed in a large health care system. We aimed to study the effectiveness of an educational module targeted for emergency medicine providers.<h4>Methods</h4>We developed a 20-minute online module including pretest, learning module, and posttest. The for ...[more]

PMID: 31008203

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Project description:ObjectivesSkin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) constitute a significant portion of emergency department (ED) cases, with some requiring admission into the observation unit (OU) for ongoing care. Identifying factors linked to OU admission is essential for optimizing patient disposition decisions.MethodsA retrospective cohort study identified patients with the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) codes indicating SSTI at an urban, tertiary care ED over 3 years (2017-2019) who were ultimately discharged. Patients admitted at index visit were excluded. Medical charts were reviewed for demographic and clinical data. Simple logistic regression models explored bivariate associations with OU admission, while a multiple logistic regression model adjusted for demographics, clinical characteristics, vital signs, and pre-index visit and in-ED management.ResultsAmong 1675 patients (42.9% female; mean age, 45.5 ± 15.4 years; 56.4% identifying as Black), 20.7% (n = 346) were admitted to the OU. Unadjusted analysis showed associations between OU admission and factors, including age, history of intravenous drug use (IVDU), lower extremity SSTI, subjective systemic illness, fever at index visit, ED surgical consultation, and pre-index visit antimicrobial choice. After adjustment, age (odds ratio [OR], 1.16; 95% CI, 1.04-1.30), immunocompromised status (OR, 1.83; 95% CI, 1.07-3.13), extremity cellulitis (lower: OR, 2.51; 95% CI, 1.55-4.14; upper: OR, 2.35; 95% CI, 1.36-4.12), surgical consultation (OR, 2.64; 95% CI, 1.79-3.91), and prehospital methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) antibiotic prescription (OR, 2.76; 95% CI, 1.69-4.54; P = .0001) remained statistically significant.ConclusionIdentifying factors associated with OU admission provides insights into clinician decision making, potentially identifying patients who might benefit from OU admission through future work, which should focus on predictors of hospital admission, OU failure, and antimicrobial selection to reduce OU failure rates.

Project description:BackgroundChest pain is the top reason for hospitalization/observation in the USA, but it is unclear if this strategy improves patient outcomes.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to compare 30-day outcomes for patients admitted versus discharged after a negative emergency department (ED) evaluation for suspected acute coronary syndrome.DesignA retrospective, multi-site, cohort study of adult encounters with chest pain presenting to one of 13 Kaiser Permanente Southern California EDs between January 1, 2015, and December 1, 2017. Instrumental variable analysis was used to mitigate potential confounding by unobserved factors.PatientsAll adult patients presenting to an ED with chest pain, in whom an acute myocardial infarction was not diagnosed in the ED, were included.Main measuresThe primary outcome was 30-day acute myocardial infarction or all-cause mortality, and secondary outcomes included 30-day revascularization and major adverse cardiac events.Key resultsIn total, 77,652 patient encounters were included in the study (n=11,026 admitted, 14.2%). Three hundred twenty-two (0.4%) had an acute myocardial infarction (n=193, 0.2%) or death (n=137, 0.2%) within 30 days of ED visit (1.5% hospitalized versus 0.2% discharged). Very few (0.3%) patients underwent coronary revascularization within 30 days (0.7% hospitalized versus 0.2% discharged). Instrumental variable analysis found no adjusted differences in 30-day patient outcomes between the hospitalized cohort and those discharged (risk reduction 0.002, 95% CI -0.002 to 0.007). Similarly, there were no differences in coronary revascularization (risk reduction 0.003, 95% CI -0.002 to 0.007).ConclusionAmong ED patients with chest pain not diagnosed with an acute myocardial infarction, risk of major adverse cardiac events is quite low, and there does not appear to be any benefit in 30-day outcomes for those admitted or observed in the hospital compared to those discharged with outpatient follow-up.

Project description:The Toronto Western Hospital is an academic hospital in Toronto, Canada, with an annual Emergency Department (ED) volume of 64,000 patients. Despite increases in patient volumes of almost six percent per annum over the last decade, there have been no commensurate increases in resources, infrastructure, and staffing. This has led to substantial increase in patient wait times, most specifically for those patients with lower acuity presentations. Despite requiring only minimal care, these patients contribute disproportionately to ED congestion, which can adversely impact resource utilization and quality of care for all patients. We undertook a retrospective evaluation of a quality improvement initiative aimed at improving wait times experienced by patients with lower acuity presentations. A rapid improvement event was organized by frontline workers to rapidly overhaul processes of care, leading to the creation of the Rapid Medical Evaluation (RME) unit - a new pathway of care for patients with lower acuity presentations. The RME unit was designed by re-purposing existing resources and re-assigning one physician and one nurse towards the specific care of these patients. We evaluated the performance of the RME unit through measurement of physician initial assessment (PIA) times and total length of stay (LOS) times for multiple groups of patients assigned to various ED care pathways, during three periods lasting three months each. Weekly measurements of mean and 90th percentile of PIA and LOS times showed special cause variation in all targeted patient groups. Of note, the patients seen in the RME unit saw their median PIA and LOS times decrease from 98min to 70min and from 165min to 130min, respectively, from baseline. Despite ever-growing numbers of patient visits, wait times for all patients with lower acuity presentations remained low, and wait times of patients with higher acuity presentations assigned to other ED care pathways were not adversely affected. By specifically re-purposing a fraction of existing staff, resources, and infrastructure for patients with lower acuity presentations, we were able to streamline their care and decrease wait times in the ED. These results were achieved through the incremental improvements afforded by rapidly cycling through PDSA cycles, with strong frontline staff involvement and continuously eliciting feedback for improvement. We believe the model to be replicable in other academic medical centres.

Dataset Information

Online Module to Improve Emergency Department Observation Unit Practice.

Introduction

Methods

Results

Discussion

Publications

Online Module to Improve Emergency Department Observation Unit Practice.

Similar Datasets

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