Challenge
A TeamHealth partner since 1977, Franciscan Health System (FHS) continually strives to maintain high levels of care and better methods for delivering services to patients in the frequently fast-paced, high-intensity environment of its emergency departments. As St. Anthony Hospital (Gig Harbor, WA) prepared to open its doors,FHS recognized a perfect opportunity to implement an innovative, new emergency department flow model that had already demonstrated exceptional patient care results when pioneered at other TeamHealth client hospitals.
Solution
Before the hospital opened, FHS representatives visited TeamHealth client hospitals in Arizona and Texas to observe their split-flow models of care and identify which aspects of these processes would work best for St. Anthony. Based on these visits,TeamHealth and FHS adopted a number of solutions, including:
- Assembling a team of compassionate, highly skilled professionals who were committed to participating in practice exercises, trial runs, and customer service training on the split-flow model.
- Implementing—from Day 1 of operation—the split-flow model in which patients are immediately examined by a physician or nurse who assesses each patient’s acuity level. Lower and higher acuity patients follow separate tracks, enabling appropriate staff to see them more quickly.
Results
Within its first year of implementation, the split-flow model delivered the desired high performance results, as indicated in the chart below. In addition, the model has proven so successful that FHS has implemented it in some fashion throughout all five Franciscan hospitals in the Northwest.
HealthStream Research consistently ranks St. Anthony Hospital in the top 5% of all hospitals nationwide and has presented the hospital with its coveted Excellence through Insight Award.
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