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Preparedness: Disasters Do Not Stop at the Emergency Department. Ira Nemeth, MD, FACEP Co-director of EMS and Disaster Medicine Section Baylor College of Medicine October 17, 2013. Background. Healthcare Systems are working at capacity daily Waiting room times are increasing
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Preparedness: Disasters Do Not Stop at the Emergency Department Ira Nemeth, MD, FACEP Co-director of EMS and Disaster Medicine Section Baylor College of Medicine October 17, 2013
Background • Healthcare Systems are working at capacity daily • Waiting room times are increasing • Admitted patients are boarding in EDs
CMS • Financial penalties for readmission • Discharge planning takes significant time • Have you heard of the RED Project
CMS • Financial penalties for readmission • Discharge planning takes significant time • Have you heard of the RED Project • All these pressures lead to longer lengths of stay
No Notice Events • Many incidents have the potential to overwhelm the current system • No warning events continue to occur at high frequency • Recent mass shootings and bombings
Madrid Bombing • More than 2000 injured • 177 killed instantly • One hospital saw 272 patients within 2 hours and 20 min of explosion How do you free up resources in that timeframe?
Boston Bombing • 264 people injured • 90 patients were moved to hospitals in 30 min • Multiple hospitals received over 30 patients • Many needed immediate surgery Do We Have Enough ORs Immediately Available?
Regular Operations Arrivals Discharges Average Weekday Census – 600 patients Average Weekday Turnover – 70 patients Average Weekday ED Volume – 280 pts/day
Current Hospital Disaster Planning • ED based • Increasing resources to the front end • Increased vendor pipelines • Securing and protecting the facility
Sudden Surge Arrivals Discharges Surge of 250 patients in 2.5 hours
Clear ED • Rapidly decide which patients can go home and which need to be admitted • Move the admitted patients to floor ???
Decrease Arrivals • Tell waiting room • Cancel elective procedures • Regional patient sharing
Increase Hospital Capacity Arrivals Discharges HPP Goal: Increase Capacity by 20% (120 staffed beds)
Increased Hospital Capacity • Increased ORs • Increased ICUs • Physical space limitation • Very difficult to increase
Increased Infrastructure • Increased Radiology • Increased Pharmacy • Increased Administration • Requires Additional Supplies • Requires Additional Qualified, Credentialed Staff
Strategies to Increase Hospital • Open up non-conventional spaces • Bring in extra staff and supplies • Decrease standards of care
Increase Discharges Discharges Arrivals
Real Life Example • Royal Darwin Hospital • Northern Territory Australia • 353 Bed Trauma Center • April 16th 2009 at 10:00 local time • Bomb explosion on a boat • 520 miles from facility • Hospital was full with backlog of admits in ED • RDH was asked to take 30 blast victims
Rapid Discharge 18% increase in discharged Hospitalized patients 5% of total hospital capacity
Rapid Discharge Planning • How do you identify who can go home? • This requires a significant change in daily practice • Transport resources
Rapid Patient Discharge Tool (RPDT) • Developed by NYC – Department of Health • Pilot exercise of six facilities in 2011 • Exercised by all 46 NYC hospitals in 2013
NYC Data • Pilot exercise • 7.9% of hospital patients were slotted for d/c • Additional 11.5% were identified as potential d/c • Once informed of the scenario an additional 12.8% of patients were identified • Total of 32.2% of patients were able to be d/c • Prelim data from April showed 14.1% potential d/c
Identified Barriers • Transport away from facility • Adjusting ingrained practice patterns
Discussion • Is there a group of patients that can be discharged with instructions to return to an outpatient planning clinic on the following day to continue their discharge planning?
Ira Nemeth, MD, FACEP Co-director of EMS and Disaster Medicine Section EMS Fellowship Director Baylor College of Medicine nemeth@bcm.edu