In the final of a 3-part interview with MD Magazine, Sharonda Brown, BSN, RN, a senior emergency department consultant with American Academic Health System, at Hahnemann University Hospital, spoke about the overall efforts to see patients in a timely manner, ensuring that timeliness and quality go hand-in-hand. Brown also discussed the focus on capturing patients that normally would have left without being seen, and how culture changes have cut that percentage almost in half—from about 13% down to about 7%. She also talked about how the administration at Hahnemann have worked with the nursing staff off-scene to stress a team approach to training and buy-in, and how the hospital has taken evidence-based methods in order to tailor a “Plan of the Day” for the emergency department based on the available staff and resources.

In the second of a 3-part interview with MD Magazine, Sharonda Brown, BSN, RN, a senior emergency department consultant with American Academic Health System, at Hahnemann University Hospital, discussed the overall importance of communication—between not just providers, but patients as well—in making sure the emergency department runs efficiently. Brown also spoke about the necessity of focusing on efficiency without sacrificing quality in an environment such as the emergency department, where so often time is of the essence. Additionally, she noted how Hahnemann has taken advantage of the use of physician extenders, such as nurse practitioners, to keep the triage process from becoming encumbering.

In the first of a 3-part interview with MD Magazine, Sharonda Brown, BSN, RN, a senior emergency department consultant with American Academic Health System, at Hahnemann University Hospital, spoke about the process changes the hospital has made to improve the workflow of the emergency department. Brown addressed how the administration surveyed staff and patients to look for opportunities to improve these processes in the front end, middle, and back end. She also spoke about the department's decision to remove non-value added steps from the triage process to prevent tediousness, as well as the addition of a Rapid Assessment Zone to shift the providers to the front end of the process and get patients in front of someone as quickly as possible.