Although an Emergency Center may appear chaotic and disorganized from the outside, its reality is far more organized. With a team that works together to ensure efficiency and safety, the EC is composed of a series of responsibilities where everyone’s
role matters.
Dr. David Donaldson, Chief of the Emergency Center, Beaumont Hospital, Troy, is accustomed to life in the EC. Having raised three children born within three years of each other, pivoting and changing on the fly is just something he’s gotten used
to.
“An important part of emergency medicine is being able to be adaptable and change on the fly,” he said. “There are many situations, even prior to the pandemic, that we have to make quick changes and pivot based on patient volume fluctuations and unique circumstances.”
During his 25 years as an emergency medicine physician at Beaumont, Dr. Donaldson hasn’t experienced anything like the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Emergency medicine physicians are the experts in mass casualty situations,” he explains. “The pandemic was essentially a two-year mass casualty event where the volume and acuity would change day-to-day, so we always had a be prepared
for the worst.”
Dr. Donaldson says that during the pandemic, emergency center physicians, physicians’ assistants, nurse practitioners and nursing leaders would huddle each day to decide how to best care for patients.
“Our mantra was to ride each surge wave as a team,” Dr. Donaldson adds. “So much of our training and career is spent on being adaptable and creative.”
It was during the peak surges in COVID cases that Dr. Donaldson would stress open communication and coming forward with new ideas.
“Some of our best ideas and process improvement changes have come from sources that we may not have expected. Many of these ideas have turned into better ways to care for our patients and improve efficiencies.”
As an example, an idea brought forward by Holly Jewett, RN, and Cortney Fortune, NP, was the concept of a “free standing EC” within the EC. An experienced greeter nurse was stationed at the EC entrance and would triage patients to either the
main EC or new area for intermediate care.
“At peak times we see about 30% of the patients in this intermediate area,” Dr. Donaldson explains. “This leaves the main EC for the more severely sick and injured patients. The length of stay and patient satisfaction have improved significantly after implementation.”
Like everyone else, Dr. Donaldson hopes the COVID surges are behind us. He also knows that if there is another, Beaumont will be prepared and ready to make any changes necessary.
“On a positive pandemic note, there have been many valuable lessons learned over the past two years that we can use moving forward,” he adds. “I can’t express enough gratitude to our team at Beaumont, Troy!”