Background: Increasing Emergency Department (ED) stretcher occupancy with admitted patients at our tertiary care hospital has contributed to long Physician Initial Assessment (PIA) times. As of Oct 2019, median PIA was 2.3 hours and 90th percentile PIA was 5.3 hours, with a consequent 71/74 PIA ranking compared to all Ontario EDs. Ambulatory zone (AZ) models are more commonly used in community EDs compared to tertiary level EDs. An interdisciplinary team trialled an AZ model for five days in our ED to improve PIA times. 

Aim Statement: We sought to decrease the median PIA for patients in our ED during the AZ trial period as compared to days with similar occupancy and volume. 

Measures & Design: The AZ was reserved for patients who could walk from a chair to stretcher. In this zone, ED rooms with stretchers were for patient assessment only; when waiting for results or receiving treatment, patients were moved into chairs. We removed nursing assignment ratios to increase patient flow. Our outcome measure was the median PIA for all patients in our ED. Our balancing measure was the 90th percentile PIA, which could increase if we negatively impacted patients who require stretchers. The median and 90th percentile PIA during the AZ trial were compared to similar occupancy and volume days without the AZ. Additional measures included ED Length of Stay (LOS) for non-admitted patients, and patients who leave without being seen (LWBS). Clinicians and patients provided qualitative feedback through surveys. 

Evaluation/Results: The median PIA during the AZ trial was 1.5 hours, compared to 2.1 hours during control days. Our balancing measure, the 90th percentile PIA was 3.7 hours, compared to 5.0 during control days. A run chart revealed both median and 90th percentile PIA during the trial were at their lowest points over the past 18 months. The number of LWBS patients decreased during the trial; EDLOS did not change. The majority of patients, nurses, and physicians felt the trial could be implemented permanently. 

Discussion/Impact: Although our highly specialized tertiary care hospital faces unique challenges and high occupancy pressures, a community-hospital style AZ model was successful in improving PIA. Shorter PIA times can improve other quality metrics, such as timeliness of analgesia and antibiotics. We are working to optimize the model based on feedback before we cycle another trial. Our findings suggest that other tertiary care EDs should consider similar AZ models.

Authors: A. Verma, I. Cheng, K. Pardhan, L. Notario, W. Thomas-Boaz and D. Shelton