With increased volume in our emergency departments, we are working to make the experience better for our patients. This week, Dr. Gabbe provides updates on what is being done to improve the experience at this "front door" to the hospitals and asks for faculty and staff to provide their ideas and suggestions.
Hi! Since I've been back at OSU I've heard many of you say that you feel like "a family" on your unit. Some of you have said that you treat your patients "like a member of my own family." These comments really touch me and make me so proud to be a part of our OSU Medical Center family.
As in any family, when one of the members is in trouble, it's up to all of us to figure out a way to help and be supportive. Currently, we are experiencing many challenges in our emergency departments, and I'm asking all of you, all of us, to help.
For many reasons, our emergency departments have experienced a dramatic increase in volume. The number of people who seek care through the Emergency Department at University Hospital is up over 8% from last year and at University Hospital East it's up 12.5%. This has happened without adding space to care for these patients.
The Emergency Department serves as the front door to our hospitals. In fact over 37% of our admissions to University Hospital come through the Emergency Department and 63% of the admissions for University Hospital East.
Think of the front door of your house or apartment. Imagine hearing your doorbell ring, answering the door, and seeing so many people that you can't count them all. Imagine not being able to talk to each one. Some of your guests leave in frustration before you can even say hello.
What type of experience do you think your guests had? Would they come back again? What would they tell others about that experience? How would you feel?
This is what has been happening in our emergency departments. Despite the best efforts of our doctors, nurses, and staff, people are waiting for a long time to see a physician, and for test results to determine next steps in their care. Once they know they are going to be admitted, they may wait hours for a bed to become available.
When a guest has this experience in one of our patient care areas, it does affects how they feel about all of us. We need to work together to fix this. We need to be innovative in our solutions. How can we provide more care in the community so patients don't have to come to the Emergency Department? How can we expedite radiology and lab results once a patient has been seen? How can we be quicker in responding to consults? How can we clean the rooms more efficiently? How can we minimize our visitors' anxieties while they're waiting?
Currently we have several teams working to address these problems, and I'll update you on their progress. In January, we will open 20 new beds in our Clinical Decision Unit at University Hospital, this will help greatly. But alone it won't solve the problem. I want to thank Dr. Doug Rund, Dr. Mark Moseley, Dr. Gary Katz, Dr. Rick Nelson,Dr. Michael Dick and all our Emergency Department physicians at University Hospital and University Hospital East as well as the Emergency Department team of nurses, and all the staff, the Patient Care Associates, Unit Clerical Associates and environmental service members for their continued commitment to helping those in need in the most challenging of circumstances. I know all of them, all of us, will be part of the solution that will allow OSU Medical Center to be a leader in emergency services locally and nationally.
Speaking of families, I want to remind you of a WONDERFUL tradition we have at the Medical Center called Caring for Our Own. During the course of the year, some of our own faculty and staff encounter hardships that make celebrating the holidays difficult financially for them and their families. Our employee recognition team matches those in need with departments who "adopt" them (anonymously, of course) for the holidays. I'd like to encourage your department or you individually to participate, by adopting a family as a department or making an individual donation. For more information, please contact Employee Recognition.
In closing, I'd like to wish you and your families an enjoyable Thanksgiving. Be sure to join us on December 2 at 5:00 p.m. as together we Light the Season at our annual Plaza Lighting. We'll see you then.