Executive Summary
The emergency department in a hospital setting is specifically for emergency cases and medicine (Di Somma et al., 2015). In most cases, it is located near the entry point of the hospital, acute cases are brought to the department either through ambulances or the patients come on their own. In this setting, all the patients with acute conditions and injuries are treated here. this will help save their lives since any delay in treatment is fatal in most of the cases.
The staffs here have a big burden in handling the patients since there are many cases daily hence increasing the workload (Driesen et al., 2018). The staffs include emergency physicians, medical officers, nursing officers, mental health emergency officers, emergency pharmacists, health records officers, insurance officers, and the support staffs. Each of them is tasked to make sure that the ultimate goal of saving the patient’s life is met. All health professionals have different tasks to perform. However, there are always many challenges facing the department hence meeting the ultimate goal partially. The time taken from admission to discharge is long hence delaying treatment (Di Somma et al., 2015). Also, the number of patients is quite high hence creating a burden in the provision of care.
Factors affecting the operation of an emergency department
However the department may be complete, the following factors affect its operations leading to partially met goals of the department. The factors include a shortage of staffs, inadequate emergency medications, lack of enough physicians who have specialized in emergency management, shortage of equipment, poor leadership and management and a long chain of activities from admission to discharge. All of the above factors affect the operations in the emergency department. This leads to a prolonged length of stay of the patients.
Recommendation
1. Employment of more staff.
2. Managers should ensure that there is enough medication.
3. Employing more physicians and looking for grants to sponsor the medical officers to train to become emergency physicians.
4. Making sure that there are enough equipment and supply in the hospital.
5. The managers should embrace on the bottom-up style of leadership.
6. Reducing the activities in the operating room by doing similar activities together.
Table of contents
Contents
1.0Introduction 4
2.0 Factors Increasing Length of Stay in Emergency Department 4
3.0 Discussion 7
4.0 Conclusion 7
5.0 Recommendations 8
6.0 Reference 9
1.0 Introduction
This paper will focus on the factors that increase the length of stay in the emergency department. Also, the possible solutions and recommendations to reduce the length of stay. This is a crucial department in the reduction of mortality rates in the hospital (Driesen et al., 2018). Any second delay in treatment leads to death hence the staff should work in cooperation to save the life of the patient. This paper will explore all the possible factors, identify them and propose a lasting solution for each.
2.0 Factors Increasing Length of Stay in the Emergency Department
Worldwide, the emergency department faces a lot of challenges ranging from a shortage of staff to shortage of equipment and supplies (Chaou et al., 2016). Overcrowding is quite common in here, the possible causes may be as a result of the following factors;
1. shortage of staff- Since there are many patients attending the department daily, there should be enough staff to attend to them. This is a different case in most of the hospitals since there are fewer staffs attending to patients. This leads to a significant delay in attending to the patients since the health professionals are less than the patients.
2. Inadequate emergency medication- in most of the hospitals worldwide, the emergency medications are not up to date, that is, most of them are specifically for managing common presenting conditions (Chaou et al., 2016). However, in case of an emergent condition, a lot of time is spent on the patient to look for the medication, since the time between buying it and administering may be long prolonging the stay and causing overcrowding.
3. Lack of enough physicians- The physicians are the medical officers who have specialized in an emergency. They are sometimes called consultants. They have the highest knowledge in this department and they are very few since the training is expensive and takes time.
4. Shortage of hospital equipment and supplies- In many of the hospitals worldwide, the emergency equipment is few (Chaou et al., 2016). Each patient’s vital signs should be measured and the equipment may be less hence leading to overcrowding.
5. Poor leadership and management- managers are key decision makers here, in most cases leaders practice dictatorial leadership or top-down leadership style which does not involve the juniors to make their own decisions. This hinders operations hence leading to a delay in attending to the patients.
6. A long chain of activities- there are many steps a patient is subjected to from admission to discharge which consumes time. The following is the current state value stream map of the emergency department based on system archetype
The following is my proposed value stream map
3.0 Discussion
The above is my proposed value stream map of the emergency room, it shows the flow of information and the flow of patients.
In the above map, patients are only supposed to wait in the waiting area (Steward et al., 2017). This is because the hospital will have employed enough nurses, physicians and doctors. There should be enough rooms well equipped with all the medications and supplies and also the staff. However, after the waiting area, the patients will enter different rooms and be served faster than before(Bal., 2017). The system may fail many hospitals may not have enough finances to meet the recommendations.
In the current map, the patients wait in many places since there is understaffing and shortage of equipment.
4.0 Conclusion
Generally, the system will lead to a great reduction in stay and overcrowding since there will be enough staff to attend to the patients. Also, there will be an improved quality of care since physicians will be readily available, resources and medicine will also not be a big deal.
Furthermore, it may fail if there are no resources to finance it and also if in case of a mass casualty where there are many cases in a single time (Monks & Meskarian, 2017). In these cases, the number of patients will be more than the staff and the workload will be increased.
5.0 Recommendations
Managers are tasked to ensure that there is a reduced length of stay in the department. They should ensure that there are enough staffs in the department to reduce the workload (Yarmohammadian et al., 2017). To manage this, managers should employ more staff and ensure they are of high quality that is meet the minimum standards of employment in respective positions. Medications also should be enough since lack of certain medicine in the hospital may impair the management of the patient, leading to a difficulty in obtaining an alternative medication or buying outside the hospital The managers should ensure that medicines are up to date (Yarmohammadian et al., 2017). The staff could be enough but there is always a high shortage of emergency physician. However, the manager should employ more physicians and also look for grants to support some of their medical officers to train as emergency physicians.
General emergency equipment like resuscitation equipment, equipment for measuring vital signs and others should be enough since they are key in reducing the length of stay. The managers should embrace on bottom-up management style to improve the flow of operations. The long chain of activities should be reduced and some activities can be done at the same point by a single individual.
6.0 Reference
Bal, Alperen, Cemil Ceylan, and Caner Taçoğlu. “Using value stream mapping and discrete event simulation to improve the efficiency of emergency departments.” International Journal of Healthcare Management 10.3 (2017): 196-206.
Chaou, C. H., Chiu, T. F., Yen, A. M. F., Ng, C. J., & Chen, H. H. (2016). Analyzing factors affecting emergency department length of stay—using a competing risk-accelerated failure time model. Medicine, 95(14).
Di Somma, S., Paladino, L., Vaughan, L., Lalle, I., Magrini, L., & Magnanti, M. (2015). Overcrowding in emergency department: an international issue. Internal and emergency medicine, 10(2), 171-175.
Driesen, B. E., Van Riet, B. H., Verkerk, L., Bonjer, H. J., Merten, H., & Nanayakkara, P. W. (2018). A long length of stay at the emergency department is mostly caused by organisational factors outside the influence of the emergency department: A root cause analysis. PloS one, 13(9), e0202751.
Monks, T., & Meskarian, R. (2017, December). Using simulation to help hospitals reduce emergency department waiting times: examples and impact. In 2017 Winter Simulation Conference (WSC) (pp. 2752-2763). IEEE.
Steward, D., Glass, T. F., & Ferrand, Y. B. (2017). Simulation-based design of ed operations with care streams to optimize care delivery and reduce the length of stay in the emergency department. Journal of medical systems, 41(10), 162.
Yarmohammadian, M. H., Rezaei, F., Haghshenas, A., & Tavakoli, N. (2017). Overcrowding in emergency departments: a review of strategies to decrease future challenges. Journal of research in medical sciences: the official journal of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, 22.
Get Professional Assignment Help Cheaply
Are you busy and do not have time to handle your assignment? Are you scared that your paper will not make the grade? Do you have responsibilities that may hinder you from turning in your assignment on time? Are you tired and can barely handle your assignment? Are your grades inconsistent?
Whichever your reason is, it is valid! You can get professional academic help from our service at affordable rates. We have a team of professional academic writers who can handle all your assignments.
Why Choose Our Academic Writing Service?
- Plagiarism free papers
- Timely delivery
- Any deadline
- Skilled, Experienced Native English Writers
- Subject-relevant academic writer
- Adherence to paper instructions
- Ability to tackle bulk assignments
- Reasonable prices
- 24/7 Customer Support
- Get superb grades consistently
Online Academic Help With Different Subjects
Literature
Students barely have time to read. We got you! Have your literature essay or book review written without having the hassle of reading the book. You can get your literature paper custom-written for you by our literature specialists.
Finance
Do you struggle with finance? No need to torture yourself if finance is not your cup of tea. You can order your finance paper from our academic writing service and get 100% original work from competent finance experts.
Computer science
Computer science is a tough subject. Fortunately, our computer science experts are up to the match. No need to stress and have sleepless nights. Our academic writers will tackle all your computer science assignments and deliver them on time. Let us handle all your python, java, ruby, JavaScript, php , C+ assignments!
Psychology
While psychology may be an interesting subject, you may lack sufficient time to handle your assignments. Don’t despair; by using our academic writing service, you can be assured of perfect grades. Moreover, your grades will be consistent.
Engineering
Engineering is quite a demanding subject. Students face a lot of pressure and barely have enough time to do what they love to do. Our academic writing service got you covered! Our engineering specialists follow the paper instructions and ensure timely delivery of the paper.
Nursing
In the nursing course, you may have difficulties with literature reviews, annotated bibliographies, critical essays, and other assignments. Our nursing assignment writers will offer you professional nursing paper help at low prices.
Sociology
Truth be told, sociology papers can be quite exhausting. Our academic writing service relieves you of fatigue, pressure, and stress. You can relax and have peace of mind as our academic writers handle your sociology assignment.
Business
We take pride in having some of the best business writers in the industry. Our business writers have a lot of experience in the field. They are reliable, and you can be assured of a high-grade paper. They are able to handle business papers of any subject, length, deadline, and difficulty!
Statistics
We boast of having some of the most experienced statistics experts in the industry. Our statistics experts have diverse skills, expertise, and knowledge to handle any kind of assignment. They have access to all kinds of software to get your assignment done.
Law
Writing a law essay may prove to be an insurmountable obstacle, especially when you need to know the peculiarities of the legislative framework. Take advantage of our top-notch law specialists and get superb grades and 100% satisfaction.
What discipline/subjects do you deal in?
We have highlighted some of the most popular subjects we handle above. Those are just a tip of the iceberg. We deal in all academic disciplines since our writers are as diverse. They have been drawn from across all disciplines, and orders are assigned to those writers believed to be the best in the field. In a nutshell, there is no task we cannot handle; all you need to do is place your order with us. As long as your instructions are clear, just trust we shall deliver irrespective of the discipline.
Are your writers competent enough to handle my paper?
Our essay writers are graduates with bachelor's, masters, Ph.D., and doctorate degrees in various subjects. The minimum requirement to be an essay writer with our essay writing service is to have a college degree. All our academic writers have a minimum of two years of academic writing. We have a stringent recruitment process to ensure that we get only the most competent essay writers in the industry. We also ensure that the writers are handsomely compensated for their value. The majority of our writers are native English speakers. As such, the fluency of language and grammar is impeccable.
What if I don’t like the paper?
There is a very low likelihood that you won’t like the paper.
Reasons being:
- When assigning your order, we match the paper’s discipline with the writer’s field/specialization. Since all our writers are graduates, we match the paper’s subject with the field the writer studied. For instance, if it’s a nursing paper, only a nursing graduate and writer will handle it. Furthermore, all our writers have academic writing experience and top-notch research skills.
- We have a quality assurance that reviews the paper before it gets to you. As such, we ensure that you get a paper that meets the required standard and will most definitely make the grade.
In the event that you don’t like your paper:
- The writer will revise the paper up to your pleasing. You have unlimited revisions. You simply need to highlight what specifically you don’t like about the paper, and the writer will make the amendments. The paper will be revised until you are satisfied. Revisions are free of charge
- We will have a different writer write the paper from scratch.
- Last resort, if the above does not work, we will refund your money.
Will the professor find out I didn’t write the paper myself?
Not at all. All papers are written from scratch. There is no way your tutor or instructor will realize that you did not write the paper yourself. In fact, we recommend using our assignment help services for consistent results.
What if the paper is plagiarized?
We check all papers for plagiarism before we submit them. We use powerful plagiarism checking software such as SafeAssign, LopesWrite, and Turnitin. We also upload the plagiarism report so that you can review it. We understand that plagiarism is academic suicide. We would not take the risk of submitting plagiarized work and jeopardize your academic journey. Furthermore, we do not sell or use prewritten papers, and each paper is written from scratch.
When will I get my paper?
You determine when you get the paper by setting the deadline when placing the order. All papers are delivered within the deadline. We are well aware that we operate in a time-sensitive industry. As such, we have laid out strategies to ensure that the client receives the paper on time and they never miss the deadline. We understand that papers that are submitted late have some points deducted. We do not want you to miss any points due to late submission. We work on beating deadlines by huge margins in order to ensure that you have ample time to review the paper before you submit it.
Will anyone find out that I used your services?
We have a privacy and confidentiality policy that guides our work. We NEVER share any customer information with third parties. Noone will ever know that you used our assignment help services. It’s only between you and us. We are bound by our policies to protect the customer’s identity and information. All your information, such as your names, phone number, email, order information, and so on, are protected. We have robust security systems that ensure that your data is protected. Hacking our systems is close to impossible, and it has never happened.
How our Assignment Help Service Works
1. Place an order
You fill all the paper instructions in the order form. Make sure you include all the helpful materials so that our academic writers can deliver the perfect paper. It will also help to eliminate unnecessary revisions.
2. Pay for the order
Proceed to pay for the paper so that it can be assigned to one of our expert academic writers. The paper subject is matched with the writer’s area of specialization.
3. Track the progress
You communicate with the writer and know about the progress of the paper. The client can ask the writer for drafts of the paper. The client can upload extra material and include additional instructions from the lecturer. Receive a paper.
4. Download the paper
The paper is sent to your email and uploaded to your personal account. You also get a plagiarism report attached to your paper.
PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET A PERFECT SCORE!!!
