Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Corso di laurea in infermieristica - Sede di Modena

Abstract

Overcrowding in the Emergency Department (ED) is an increasingly growing phenomenon that has reached critical levels throughout the international territory. There have been several strategies adopted to improve the flow of patients who are in the ED. Among these, an emerging figure at national level, who for some years has already been acting in some Emergency and Urgency Departments at international level is that of the process nurse, who takes on a different name and role depending on the context in which he operates. The aim of this paper is to propose a strategy to try to reduce the time of stay of patients in the Emergency Department. For this purpose, the figure of "Senior" nurse was introduced at OCB, which acts in the post-triage phase ensuring an early care of patients and the implementation of diagnostic-therapeutic-care (PDTA) paths already during the waiting phase before the medical examination, effectively filling the "care gap" that may have been generated. A review of the literature was first carried out to understand the phenomenon of overcrowding and related strategies. Subsequently, data were collected and analysed for a sample of 28,076 patients who were given a green priority code during Triage. The results showed that in 2019 the average stay time of patients with green code was 4 hours and 15 minutes, compared to the 4 hours and 45 minutes recorded in 2015, the year in which the Senior nurse figure had not yet been introduced. This shows a reduction of 30 minutes, with a decrease of around 11%. The research shows that the rapid taking over by the Senior Nurse has brought benefits for patients not only from a clinical and human point of view, but also in terms of reducing the time spent in the Emergency Department.