Focus: October 8, 2009

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ED SuperTracking quickens the pace of care delivery for lower-acuity patients This is another in a series of articles about projects that are transforming care delivery at Christiana Care. o patients, “emergency” means they expect to receive care fast. So spending more than an hour in a hospital emergency department can be frustrating. In August, Wilmington campus joined Christiana Hospital in implementing SuperTrack, a process to quicken the pace at which less-acute patients—those identified as emergency levels 4 and 5— move through treatment. Results are impressive. Average length of stay dropped from more than two hours to under an hour.

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Clinical News NIH grants support research

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Patient-Centered Medical Homes

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Diabetes services expand at Springside Plaza

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Centering Care program empowers pregnant women

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General News Focus on Excellence Awards exhibit

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Fall PTO cashout update

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Now testing SPEED Now, Christiana Hospital is testing a similar process for level 3 patients. Synchronous Provider Evaluation in the Emergency Department (SPEED) is scheduled to go live in December. “These programs are an example of the tremendous transformation that is taking place at Christiana Care,” says Janice Nevin, M.D., MPH, senior vice president/executive director Christiana CareWilmington and associate chief medical officer. “Two years ago,

SuperTrack quickens the pace of emergency care delivery for many Christiana Care Emergency Department patients. you would have said it couldn’t be done.” SuperTrack reduces length of stay In January 2008, a team of ED leaders and front-line staff began identifying bottlenecks and time wasters. The team implemented changes, then tested, modified, retested and continued this process until the change met patient needs and the staff could sustain it. In addition to changes such as modifying order entry and establishing different methods of communicating among staff


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