T-System is pleased to announce the continued success and integration at MountainView Hospital with The
T SystemEV®, an emergency department information system (EDIS). Recently highlighted on CNN, MountainView’s new rapid triage system allows ED patients to be examined and even treated by an emergency physician in the waiting room. The synergy between
T SystemEV and this revolutionary new triage system has become evident as both improve efficiency throughout the ED.
The new system works by placing a physician directly in the waiting room to bring care to the patient, explains Natalie Seaber, RN, director of emergency services at MountainView. “Basically, we moved the ED to more of the front of the hospital. Even more than we already had.”
After a patient checks in at triage, the on-duty physician assesses their illness or injury and determines the necessary treatment. The triage physician or nurse can perform blood work and x-rays, administer pain medications, respiratory treatments, antibiotics and more. In some circumstances, the patient can be treated in the triage processing area and released without ever stepping foot in the ED. However, if the patient’s situation exceeds what can be done in the processing center, they are admitted to the ED.
Increasing patient wait times and overcrowding contributed to MountainView’s new approach to triage. “Because of our high volume, patients were waiting too long to see a physician,” Seaber said. “Now they are seeing an increasing quality of care and safety.”
Las Vegas area EDs have struggled with high wait times - as much as three times the national average, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Just a couple months ago the average ED patient at MountainView could expect to wait up to an hour to see a physician after being triaged, and too many left without receiving any treatment at all.
Wade Sears, M.D., medical director at MountainView, is excited to see the benefits of their new system. “[The rapid triage system] has worked so well. We took our door-to-doctor time from 56 minutes to 14 and our average length of stay in the ED from over 4 hours to about 2.5,” he said. “Obviously, it has reduced our left without being seen rate from a frightening 12 percent to just less than 2 percent.”
T SystemEV works seamlessly with MountainView’s new triage process, which relies upon the ability to quickly and easily access patient information. By using
T SystemEV on tablet PCs, the physician can pull up patient history and document directly at the point of triage, further decreasing patient waiting time.
T-System is delighted to see the two systems work so well together to improve workflow and patient care at MountainView.
The CNN video clip featuring MountainView is titled "ER wait time averages 14 minutes” (July 4, 2006) and is available through the archived video services of CNN. www.cnn.com
T-System Inc. and
T-System Technologies, Ltd., headquartered in Dallas, Texas, provide innovative medical documentation solutions designed to enhance documentation quality and clinical efficiency. Nationwide, more than 1,700 hospitals use
T-System products and services including 99 installations of
T SystemEV (emergency department information system),
T System for Emergency Physicians,
T System for Emergency Nurses and
T System for Primary Care. For more information, visit
www.tsystem.com, or contact Joe Lastinger at (800) 667-2482.
