Impact of a patient-flow physician coordinator on waiting times and length of stay in an emergency department: A before-after cohort study

Morais Oliveira, Marta; Marti, Christophe; Ramlawi, Majd; Sarasin, François; Grosgurin, Olivier; Poletti, Pierre-Alexandre Alois; Rouyer, Frédéric; Rutschmann, Olivier Thierry

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0209035

Scientific article

English

Impact of a patient-flow physician coordinator on waiting times and length of stay in an emergency department: A before-after cohort study

ContributorsMorais Oliveira, Marta; Marti, Christophe; Ramlawi, Majd; Sarasin, François; Grosgurin, Olivier; Poletti, Pierre-Alexandre Alois; Rouyer, Frédéric; Rutschmann, Olivier Thierry

Published inPLOS ONE, vol. 13, no. 12, e0209035

Publication date2018

Abstract

Overcrowding is common in most emergency departments (ED). Despite the use of validated triage systems, some patients are at risk of delayed medical evaluation. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of a patient-flow physician coordinator (PFPC) on the proportion of patients offered medical evaluation within time limits imposed by the Swiss Emergency Triage Scale (SETS) and on patient flow within the emergency department of a teaching urban hospital.

Keywords

Cohort Studies
Crowding
Efficiency, Organizational/statistics & numerical data
Emergency Service, Hospital/organization & administration/statistics & numerical data
Female
Humans
Length of Stay/statistics & numerical data
Male
Middle Aged
Physician-Patient Relations
Retrospective Studies
Waiting Lists

Affiliation entities

Research groups

Citation (ISO format)

MORAIS OLIVEIRA, Marta et al. Impact of a patient-flow physician coordinator on waiting times and length of stay in an emergency department: A before-after cohort study. In: PLOS ONE, 2018, vol. 13, n° 12, p. e0209035. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0209035