JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Despite many efforts, long wait time and overcrowding at Emergency Departments (EDs) have remained a significant health system issue in Canada. For several years, Canada has had one of the longest wait times among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD countries. From the patient’s perspective, the challenge has been described as “patients wait in pain or discomfort for hours before being seen at EDs”. In this study, we propose an innovative quality-improvement intervention called SurgeCon that includes a protocol-driven software platform and several other initiatives to reduce wait times and improve the sustainability of health systems without significant workforce changes. We piloted SurgeCon at an ED in Carbonear, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) and found there was a 32% reduction in ED wait time.

Objective:

Our primary objectives of the trial are to evaluate the effects of SurgeCon on ED performance based on length of stay (LOS), time to physician’s initial assessment (PIA), and the number of patients leaving the ED without being seen by a physician (LWBS), patient satisfaction and patient-reported experience with ED wait times. The ultimate goal of this study is to create better value care by reducing the per-patient cost of delivering ED services.

Methods:

This study will investigate the effects of SurgeCon on health system key performance outcomes and patient-reported experience and satisfaction. The study uses a comparative effectiveness-implementation hybrid design. This type of hybrid design has been recommended to help achieve rapid translational gains that can hasten the movement of interventions from research to practice to public health impact. In our hybrid design, we will use a pragmatic stepped wedge cluster randomized trial (SW-CRT) design that enrols four 24/7 on-site ED physician support (category A) hospitals into a 30-month trial. All clusters (hospitals) start with a baseline period of “usual care” and are randomized to determine the order and timing of transitioning to “intervention care” until all hospitals are exposed to the intervention condition for the remainder of the study.

Results:

Data collection for this study is ongoing. To date, 15 randomly selected patients have participated in telephone interviews concerning patient-reported experiences and patient satisfaction with ED wait times.

Conclusions:

By evaluating the mechanisms behind the use of SurgeCon, we hope to be able to improve wait times and create better value ED care in this healthcare context. Clinical Trial: This study is registered in ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04789902