Lean techniques for the improvement of patients' flow in emergency department

BACKGROUND: Emergency departments(EDs) face problems with overcrowding, access block, cost containment, and increasing demand from patients. In order to resolve these problems, there is rising interest to an approach called "lean" management. This study aims to(1) evaluate the current patient flow in ED,(2) to identify and eliminate the non-valued added process, and(3) to modify the existing process.METHODS: It was a quantitative, pre- and post-lean design study with a series of lean management work implemented to improve the admission and blood result waiting time. These included structured re-design process, priority admission triage(PAT) program, enhanced communication with medical department, and use of new high sensitivity troponin-T(hsTnT) blood test. Triage waiting time, consultation waiting time, blood result time, admission waiting time, total processing time and ED length of stay were compared.RESULTS: Among all the processes carried out in ED, the most time consuming processes were to wait for an admission bed(38.24 minutes; SD 66.35) and blood testing result(mean 52.73 minutes, SD 24.03). The triage waiting time and end waiting time for consultation were significantly decreased. The admission waiting time of emergency medical ward(EMW) was significantly decreased from 54.76 minutes to 24.45 minutes after implementation of PAT program(P<0.05).CONCLUSION: The application of lean management can improve the patient flow in ED. Acquiescence to the principle of lean is crucial to enhance high quality emergency care and patient satisfaction.

Overview of the Shenzhen Emergency Medical Service Call Pattern

BACKGROUND:In Shenzhen,the Emergency Medical Service(EMS) system has been in service since 1997.This study aims to examine the operation of Shenzhen 120 EMS center and to identify the reasons of calling EMS.METHODS:In this retrospective quantitative descriptive study,the data from the Shenzhen 120 EMS registry in 2011 were analyzed.RESULTS:Shenzhen 120 EMS center is a communication command center.When the number of 120 are dialed,it is forwarded to the closest appropriate hospital for ambulance dispatch.In2011,the Shenzhen 120 EMS center received 153 160 ambulance calls,with an average of 420 calls per day.Calling emergency services was mainly due to traffic accidents.Trauma and other acute diseases constituted a majority of ambulance transports.The adult patients aged 15-60 years are the principal users of EMS.There are no recognized 'paramedic' doctors and nurses.The pre-hospital emergency service is under the operation of emergency departments of hospitals.Shenzhen at present does not have specialized pre-hospital training for doctors and nurses in posttrauma management.Moreover,specialized pre-hospital training,financial support,and public health education on proper use of EMS should be emphasized.CONCLUSION:The Shenzhen 120 EMS center has its own epidemiology characteristics.Traumatic injury and traffic accident are the main reasons for calling ambulance service.In-depth study emphasizing the distribution and characteristics of trauma patients is crucial to the future development of EMS.

A continuous quality improvement project to reduce medication error in the emergency department

BACKGROUND:Medication errors are a common source of adverse healthcare incidents particularly in the emergency department(ED) that has a number of factors that make it prone to medication errors.This project aims to reduce medication errors and improve the health and economic outcomes of clinical care in Hong Kong ED.METHODS:In 2009,a task group was formed to identify problems that potentially endanger medication safety and developed strategies to eliminate these problems.RESULTS:Responsible officers were assigned to look after seven error-prone areas.Strategies were proposed,discussed,endorsed and promulgated to eliminate the problems identified.A reduction of medication incidents(Ml) from 16 to 6 was achieved before and after the improvement work.CONCLUSION:This project successfully established a concrete organizational structure to safeguard error-prone areas of medication safety in a sustainable manner.

Corneal injection track: an unusual complication of intraocular lens implantation and review

Phacoemulsification is the main gold standard for cataract operation in the developed world together with foldable intraocular lens(IOL) implantation by injection,allowing for stable wound construction and less postoperative astigmatism. It is a safe procedure with high success rate with the advancement in machines,improvement of IOL injection systems and further maturation of surgeons’ techniques. Despite the large number of operations performed every day, foldable IOL injection leading to an intra-stromal corneal track is a very rare complication. We report a case of this unusual finding in a 70-year-old gentleman who has undergone cataract operation in November 2011 in our hospital and will review on the complications related to foldable IOL injection.

Transurethral resection of prostate for acute urinary retention is linked to shorter survival in younger men

It is largely unknown whether lower urinary tract symptoms(LUTS)or acute retention of urine(AROU)is linked to shorter life expectancy in men.We conducted a multicenter,retrospective database analysis of patients undergoing transurethral resection of prostate(TURP)to study their relationships.Multivariate Cox regression analysis and Kaplan-Meier analysis with stratification to age and indication of TURP were performed.We further performed an age-and sex-matched survival analysis with the general population using data from the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region(Hong Kong,China).From January 2002 to December 2012,3496 patients undergoing TURP were included in our study,with 1764 patients in the LUTS group and 1732 patients in the AROU group.Old age,ischemic heart disease,cerebrovascular accident,and AROU were risk factors of mortality.Patients aged<70 years(adjusted hazard ratio[HR]:1.52,95%confidence interval[Cl]:1.11-2.09,P=0.010)and 70-80 years(adjusted HR:1.39,95%Cl:1.15-1.70,P-0.001)in the AROU group had worse survival than those in the LUTS group,but such difference was not demonstrated in patients aged>80 years.Compared to the general population,younger patients in the LUTS group appeared to have better survival(<70 years,P=0.091;70-80 years,P=0.011),but younger patients in the AROU group had worse survival(<70 years,P=0.021;70-80 years,P=0.003).For patients aged>80 years,survival was similar with the general population in both the LUTS and AROU groups.In conclusion,AROU at young age was associated with mortality,while early detection and management of LUTS may improve survival.

Determinants for asthma control, quality of life and use of complementary and alternative medicine in asthmatic pediatric patients in four cities

Background Asthma is a significant chronic health problem worldwide. Management aims at disease control by reducing functional impairment and exacerbations and improving quality of life (QoL). We report a multi-center study to survey asthma control and QoL in four cities in the Pearl River Delta. Methods The conjoint survey involved ten Hong Kong pediatric hospitals/units, two Shenzhen hospitals, two Macao hos-pitals, and two Guangzhou hospitals on asthma control (using Asthma Control Test) and QoL (Pediatric Allergic Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire, PADQLQ). Acceptability of a treatment is graded as very good/good/fair/poor. Results Good asthma control was only reported in 80% subjects in Hong Kong, but higher in sister cities (85–94%, P<0.001). Allergic rhinitis, 'incense burning', and 'smoker in family' were prevalent among the four cities. Logistic regres-sion showed better control of asthma was associated with better PADQLQ (B=?0.029, P < 0.001), better acceptability of bronchodilator (B=?1.488, P = 0.025), negatively with 'smoker in family' (B=?0.83, P = 0.015) and various PADQLQ domains. Conversely, worse PADQLQ was associated with allergic rhinitis severity (B=4.77, P <0.001), poor control of asthma (B=7.56, P <0.001), increased frequency of traditional Chinese medicine use (B=1.7, P < 0.05), increased fre-quency of bronchodilator usage (B=1.05, P < 0.05), 'smoker in family' (B=4.05, P < 0.05), and incense burning at home (B=3.9, P < 0.05). Conclusions There are some clinical and cultural differences among the four southern Chinese cities within the Guangdong province. This study identifies potentially modifiable environmental and treatment factors associated with poor asthma control and QoL for health-care interventions. Having a smoker in the family is independently associated with poor asthma control and QoL.