The growing number of patients, shortage of staff and limited space at the Emergency Department (ED) of the Flevoziekenhuis hospital cause a high perceived work pressure and a full ED during peak times. The Philips consulting team gave the Flevoziekenhuis in Almere, the Netherlands advice and support regarding these challenges.
The Philips team uncovered all the data needed to improve my department."
ED Chairman Dr. F. Roodheuvel
Flevoziekenhuis
The Challenge
Like other Emergency Departments in the Netherlands, the Flevoziekenhuis ED is facing several challenges. There are large numbers of patients at peak times, it is difficult to find sufficiently qualified staff, the space in the ED is limited and the patient flow is slowed down by wait times for nurses, treatment beds, examinations, physicians and intake beds. The staff is able to meet the care demand during the majority of the week; however, at busy times, it isn’t always feasible to treat all patients within a short time frame. In the worst cases, the ED has to stop accepting ambulances for a few hours — a situation that also occurs regularly in other EDs in the Netherlands. Philips was asked to optimize the department’s processes in order to meet the care demand more effectively at busy times. The second request was to address the ED space by creating an internal relocation or renovation plan.
Our Approach
The Philips consulting team followed the following customized approach for the Flevoziekenhuis hospital:
The Solution
Philips started with a detailed root cause analysis to determine the causes of closures, slow throughput and perceived work pressure. The team then grouped the causes and worked with the ED staff to identify nine improvement initiatives. Three of the initiatives were, the introduction of the new role of Triage Assistant, the restructuring of the handover process and an internal relocation to better utilize the available space. The Philips team was closely involved throughout the implementation of the nine improvement initiatives. The co-creation approach contributed to lasting changes. The results were measured using key performance indicators.
The Results*
Three months after the improvement initiatives were implemented, the results were measured and compared against the baselines. The key results are:
The ED staff at the Flevoziekenhuis Hospital provide medical and nursing care to patients with acute medical problems 24 hours a day. Approximately 24,000 patients visit this ED in Almere every year. The department is part of Spoedpost Almere, a collaboration between the Medical Clinic, Emergency Department and De Brug pharmacy.
