Impact of Emergency Department Tele-intake on Left Without Being Seen and Throughput Metrics.

OBJECTIVES: More than 2 million patients present to a U.S. emergency department (ED) annually and leave without being seen (LWBS) due to delays in initiating care. We evaluated whether tele-intake at the time of presentation would reduce LWBS rates and ED throughput measures. METHODS: We conducted a before-and-after study at an urban community hospital. The intervention was use of a tele-intake physician to triage patients from 11 am to 6 pm, 7 days per week. Tele-intake providers performed a triage history and physical examination, documented findings, and initiated orders in the medical record. We assessed the impact of this program using the domains of the National Quality Forum framework evaluating access, provider experience, and effectiveness of care. The main outcome was 24-hour LWBS rate. Secondary outcomes were overall door to provider and door to disposition times, left without treatment complete (LWTC), left against medical advice (AMA), left without treatment (LWOT), and physician experience. We compared the 6-month tele-intake period to the same period from the prior year (October 1 to April 1, 2017 vs. 2016). Additionally, we conducted a survey of our physicians to assess their experience with the program. RESULTS: Total ED volume was similar in the before and after periods (19,892 patients vs. 19,646 patients). The 24-hour LWBS rate was reduced from 2.30% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.0% to 2.5%) to 1.69% (95% CI = 1.51% to 1.87%; p < 0.001). Overall door to provider time decreased (median = 19 [interquartile range {IQR} = 9 to 38] minutes vs. 16.2 [IQR = 7.8 to 34.3] minutes; p < 0.001), but ED length of stay for all patients (defined as door in to door out time for all patients) minimally increased (median = 184 [IQR = 100 to 292] minutes vs. 184.3 [IQR = 104.4 to 300] minutes; p < 0.001). There was an increase in door to discharge times (median = 146 [IQR = 83 to 231] minutes vs. 148 [IQR = 88.2 to 233.6] minutes; p < 0.001) and door to admit times (median = 330 [IQR = 253 to 432] minutes vs. 357.6 [IQR = 260.3 to 514.5] minutes; p < 0.001). We saw an increase in LWTC (0.59% [95% CI = 0.49% to 0.70%] vs. 1.1% [95% CI = 0.9% to 1.2%]; p < 0.001), but no change in AMA (1.4% [95% CI = 1.2% to 1.6%] vs. 1.6% [95% CI = 1.4% to 1.78%]; p = 0.21) or LWOT (4.3% [95% CI = 4.1% to 4.6%] vs. 4.4% [95% CI = 4.1% to 4.7%]; p = 0.7). Tele-intake providers thought tele-intake added value (12/15, 80%) and allowed them to effectively address medical problems (14/15, 95%), but only (10/15, 67%) thought that it was as good as in-person triage. Of the receiving physicians, most agreed with statements that tele-intake did not interfere with care (19/22, 86%), helped complement care (19/21, 90%), and gave the patient a better experience (19/22, 86%). CONCLUSIONS: Remote tele-intake provided in an urban community hospital ED reduced LWBS and time to provider but increased LWTC rates and had no impact on LWOT.

Associations of Emergency Department Length of Stay With Publicly Reported Quality-of-care Measures.

OBJECTIVE: The Institute of Medicine identified emergency department (ED) crowding as a critical threat to patient safety. We assess the association between changes in publicly reported ED length of stay (LOS) and changes in quality-of-care measures in a national cohort of hospitals. METHODS: Longitudinal analysis of 2012 and 2013 data from the American Hospital Association (AHA) Survey, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Cost Reports, and CMS Hospital Compare. We included hospitals reporting Hospital Compare timeliness measure of LOS for admitted patients. We used AHA and CMS data to incorporate hospital predictors of interest. We used the method of first differences to test for relationships in the change over time between timeliness measures and six hospital-level measures. RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 2,619 hospitals. Each additional hour of ED LOS was associated with a 0.7% decrease in proportion of patients giving a top satisfaction rating, a 0.7% decrease in proportion of patients who would "definitely recommend" the hospital, and a 6-minute increase in time to pain management for long bone fracture (p < 0.01 for all). A 1-hour increase in ED LOS is associated with a 44% increase in the odds of having an increase in left without being seen (95% confidence interval = 25% to 68%). ED LOS was not associated with hospital readmissions (p = 0.14) or time to percutaneous coronary intervention (p = 0.14). CONCLUSION: In this longitudinal study of hospitals across the United States, improvements in ED timeliness measures are associated with improvements in the patient experience.

Relationship between body mass index and prognosis of patients presenting with potential acute coronary syndromes.

OBJECTIVES: Studies examining the relationship between obesity and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) have been limited to patients with confirmed diagnoses. The authors sought to determine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and 30-day cardiovascular events in emergency department (ED) patients with potential ACS. METHODS: This was a secondary analysis of a prospective cohort study of patients who presented to the ED with potential ACS. Patients were stratified according to their BMI: underweight (BMI < 18.49 kg/m(2) ), normal weight (BMI = 18.5 to 24.99 kg/m(2) ), overweight (BMI = 25 to 29.99 kg/m(2) ), obese (BMI = 30 to 34.99 kg/m(2) ), and very obese (BMI > 35 kg/m(2) ). The primary outcome was acute myocardial infarction (AMI), death, or revascularization within 30 days of presentation. A logistic regression analysis was used to adjust for confounding variables and adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) are presented for cardiac events and readmission outcomes. RESULTS: Of the 3,946 patients included in this study, 73 (1.9%) were underweight, 911 (23%) were normal weight, 1,199 (30.4%) were overweight, 872 (22.1%) were obese, and 891 (22.6%) were very obese. Although increased levels of obesity were associated with a greater number of cardiac risk factors, there was no difference in 30-day cardiovascular events between those of normal weight and underweight (aOR = 1.1; 95% CI = 0.4 to 2.7), overweight (aOR = 1.0; 95% CI = 0.7 to 1.4), obese (aOR = 1.2; 95% CI = 0.8 to1.7), or very obese (aOR = 0.8; 95% CI = 0.5 to 1.3). Those who were underweight were more likely to be readmitted within 30 days (aOR = 1.9; 95% CI = 1.0 to 3.7), and those who were very obese were less likely to be readmitted within 30 days (aOR = 0.7; 95% CI = 0.5 to 0.9). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients who present to the ED with potential ACS, BMI is not associated with higher risk of cardiovascular outcomes at 30 days.

Relationship between cocaine use and coronary artery disease in patients with symptoms consistent with an acute coronary syndrome.

OBJECTIVES: Observational studies of patients with cocaine-associated myocardial infarction have suggested more coronary disease than expected on the basis of patient age. The study objective was to determine whether cocaine use is associated with coronary disease in low- to intermediate-risk emergency department (ED) patients with potential acute coronary syndrome (ACS). METHODS: The authors conducted a cross-sectional study of low- to intermediate-risk patients<60 years of age who received coronary computerized tomographic angiography (CTA) for evaluation of coronary artery disease (CAD) in the ED. Patients were classified into three groups with respect to CAD: maximal stenosis <25%, 25% to 49%, and ≥50%. Prespecified multivariate modeling (generalized estimating equations) was used to assess relationship between cocaine and CAD. RESULTS: Of 912 enrolled patients, 157 (17%) used cocaine. A total of 231 patients had CAD ≥25%; 111 had CAD ≥50%. In univariate analysis, cocaine use was not associated with a lesion 25% or greater (12% vs. 14%; relative risk [RR]=0.89, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.5 to 1.4) or 50% or greater (12% vs. 11%; RR=1.15, 95% CI=0.6 to 2.3). In multivariate modeling adjusting for age, race, sex, cardiac risk factors, and Thrombosis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) score, cocaine use was not associated with the presence of any coronary lesion (adjusted RR=0.95, 95% CI=0.69 to 1.31) or coronary lesions 50% or greater (adjusted RR=0.78, 95% CI=0.45 to 1.38). There was also no relationship between repetitive cocaine use and coronary calcifications or between recent cocaine use and CAD. CONCLUSIONS: In symptomatic ED patients at low to intermediate risk of an ACS, cocaine use was not associated with an increased likelihood of coronary disease after adjustment for age, race, sex, and other risk factors for coronary disease.