Emergency rooms around the country have gotten into the mode of marketing their services. One aspect that each is focusing on is the speed by which a patient is seen once he or she presents to the hospital. Historically, visits to an emergency room can take many hours even for minor problems such as colds or bruises.
Hospitals are dealing with this delay in treatment by streamlining services with the use of fast track concepts. Triage nurses will sequester patients into acuity groups and will move minor problems to an area in the ER where a physician's assistant or nurse practitioner can see the patient immediately, treat, and discharge the patient in a timely manner.
Also, hospitals are now purchasing billboards to advertise about shorter wait times in their emergency rooms. Patients can actually find out in advance, thanks to a new program that publicizes each hospital’s average wait times via text messaging, electronic banner ads and the Internet.
The challenge of course is that speed does not compromise quality and standards. There are numerous incidents of patients hastily treated in the minor side area, who had serious conditions overlooked. Whether or not this results in an increase in medical malpractice lawsuits remains to be seen.
Litigators, Emergency Department Directors, Hospital Administrators, Risk Managers, and Hospital Joint Commission officials are watching these developments closely.
