Niels K Rathlev, Christine Bryson, Patty Samra, Lynn Garreffi, Haiping Li, Bonnie Geld, Roger Y Wu, Paul Visintainer
INTRODUCTION: Because lack of inpatient capacity is associated with emergency department (ED) crowding, more efficient bed management could potentially alleviate this problem. Our goal was to assess the impact of involving a patient placement manager (PPM) early in the decision to hospitalize ED patients. The PPMs are clinically experienced registered nurses trained in the institution-specific criteria for correct unit and bed placement. METHODS: We conducted two pilot studies that included all patients who were admitted to the adult hospital medicine service: 1) 10/24 to 11/22/2010 (30 days); and 2) 5/24 to 7/4/2011 (42 days)...
September 2014: Western Journal of Emergency Medicine