Emergency Departments (E.D.s) in Hospitals that have a significant number of patients are continually challenged to provide efficient, high quality healthcare. Winter Haven Hospital’s E.D. averages 130 patients daily. Our organization has four committee's working to expedite care and provide high quality. These teams include Customer Satisfaction, Triage, Patient Holding and Medical Imaging. In a major step to improve efficiency we have added Computerized Tomography (CT) Scanning to the E.D. so our patients do not have to be moved to the Medical Imaging (X-ray) Department. We have also added computerized charting to help expedite patient care and to assist in tracking the exact times patients received their various tests and services. Utilizing these tools allows us to determine “best practices” so our staff can determine the most efficient ways to provide care.

In addition to these improvements for E.D. patients, hospital departments like Lab, Respiratory Care, Cardiology and Medical Imaging are working to expedite tests and test results. Additional physician's assistants and physicians have been added during peak times to improve efficiency. Communication boards are being used in every patient room to assure patients know the name of their nurse and other pertinent information about their care. Several Guest Services Representatives have been added to help assure more personalized service and to assist patients and family members in receiving continuing communication. We encourage patients to ask questions, to this extent note pads and pencils are provided so they can write down questions to ask their physicians or nurse. A paging device (similar to ones used by restaurants) is being provided to patients on a trial basis in the event someone waiting may want to go outside briefly. This also adds to a quieter, healing environment in the E.D. lobby. Every patient receives a written explanation of what to expect during their visit.

Our Emergency Department is committed to quality first, and speed second, but staff are continually working on decreasing wait times for our patients. Emergency Departments are intended for emergency care; however, many people use them for non-emergent circumstances which slows down care for all patients. Physicians' offices and other clinics are generally less expensive and faster than Emergency Departments for non emergent care. We will continue to care for every patient that comes to our E.D. in an efficient and effective manner.