How to Reduce Emergency Department Dwell Time

Chaos in the emergency department is common. How to fix it is not always clear. Mary P. Mercer, MD, MPH, from the University of California, San Francisco, discusses how they successfully fixed their long dwell times at the emergency department at San Francisco General Hospital. Their solution was to create a fast-track unit that managed low-acuity patients separately from the rest of the emergency department cases. The most important aspect of this quality improvement effort was the ongoing and regular engagement of executives from the medical center with frontline staff.