One of the biggest complaints people have about hospitals is the waiting time in the emergency room. Now, San Antonio’s Baptist hospitals are taking measures to speed up the process.
It’s extraordinary for a waiting room at an emergency room in December to be virtually empty, but that’s what it looked like on Wednesday, Dec. 9th, at Northeast Baptist Hospital. “To be in an emergency room in the peak of winter, during the peak of flu season, with a pandemic still going on and to find a waiting room such as this one completely empty is amazing,” claimed emergency physician Dr. Gorav Bohil.
Northeast Baptist is one of three Baptist hospitals instituting a new policy called “split flow,” a way to cut the wait from the time you hit the ER door to the time you see a doctor down to 30 minutes. It had been running two hours or more.
After a faster assessment by nurses initially, doctors will determine which patients look like they need admitting and which can be patched up or medicated and sent home. The customized care means acute patients get the urgent care they need, while less serious patients can await test results and not undergo unnecessary evaluations. Either way, they don’t send much time sitting around.
“We don’t have people in the waiting room most of the time,” said Gina Grnach, administrative director of the emergency department at Baptist Medical Center downtown. “I don’t like people sitting out there because you don’t know what’s going on. They come to see the doctor. And getting them to the doctor is what they want. And that’s what they need.”
The ER is often called the “front door” of the hospital. Now, at least, once they’re in, patients will be spending less time cooling their heels.
Bohil commented, “I want there to be the day when I come walking into your room as a patient and you’ve been there less than two minutes. The first thing I’m going to tell you is ‘I’m sorry you had to wait.’”
Baptist has seen a two to three-fold increase in patient satisfaction rates at the hospitals using this new system. Three of the five Baptist hospitals in San Antonio are using is now. The other two will begin in the next few months.
