Acute Illness
Conditions
Keywords
Emergency department, administration, overcrowding
Brief summary
This randomized controlled trial will introduce a Clinical Decision Unit (CDU) into the University of Alberta Hospital Emergency Department(ED)and assess the influence on ED length of stay, patients who leave without being seen, and other ED Overcrowding outcomes.
Detailed description
The study will take place over a 6-week period that will be spilt into three-two-week blocks. Using computerized blocks of 2 weeks, days of the week will be randomly allocated so that each day of the week receives one intervention (CDU) and one control day for the study period. The CDU involves transforming an ED bed location to a 6-chair internal waiting room with 2 adjacent beds assigned to act as assessment and treatment locations. Patients will transition between the chair and stretcher to optimize the use of ED space.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALClinical Decision Unit
a dedicated 2-bed area to see patients and then rotate them back into the waiting room area for labs and diagnostic imaging.
Sponsors
Capital Health, Canada
University of Alberta
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
17 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Only adult patients (\>17 years of age) presenting to the University of Alberta Hospital Emergency Department (UAH ED), during the study interval will be included in the evaluation.
Exclusion criteria
* Direct admits/Pediatric patients.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Total ED length of stay | in the Emergency Department |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Left without being seen (LWBS) rates | in the Emergency Department |
| nurse and physician satisfaction | following Emergency Department shift |
| ambulance turnaround times (time | in the Emergency Department |
Countries
Canada
Outcome results
None listed