SAQ 453 – Administration – emergency department patient flow metrics
Model Answer
Administration – emergency department patient flow metrics.
a. Pre-arrival factors
| Factor | Measure |
|---|---|
| Patient demand/demographics | Annual attendance growth, age mix and percentage arriving by ambulance. |
| Alternatives to ED | Percentage referred by GPs, outpatient clinic wait times, scheduled ED reviews or direct-admission rates. |
| Residential care presentations | Number/percentage of transfers from residential care and time-of-day patterns. |
b. ED-stay factors
| Factor | Measure |
|---|---|
| Cubicle/treatment access | Arrival-to-cubicle time and waiting time by triage category. |
| Processes of care | Time to analgesia, antibiotics, cath lab or thrombolysis as relevant. |
| Diagnostics | Pathology turnaround time and radiology request-to-report time. |
| Senior decision-making | Arrival-to-doctor and doctor-to-admission-decision time. |
| Referrals | ED doctor-to-specialty review time, including mental health referral-to-seen time. |
| Non-admitted flow | Percentage discharged home within 4 hours and unplanned 48-hour reattendance rate. |
c. Flow out of ED
| Factor | Measure |
|---|---|
| Discharge and transfer processes | Decision-to-discharge time, transport request-to-departure time, pharmacy/allied health referral time. |
| Short stay model | Percentage admitted to SSU and percentage subsequently requiring inpatient admission. |
| Inpatient access | Percentage admitted within 4 hours, ED length of stay, bed-available-to-depart time and inpatient discharge-before-10am metrics. |
Comments are closed for this SAQ.