Special Requirements

DP — 2009-05-20T00:57:09Z

Hospital Management Software - Emergency Department

Emergency Deparment has very special requirements. Strictly speaking Emergency Deparment is neither Outpatient department nor Inpatient department. It is somewhere in between which makes it a department with very special requirements.

The patients arriving in Emergency are not seen by a doctor on first come first served basis. Every patient is seen by a triage nurse in the sequence of the arrival time. Based on the triage an algorithm decides the order in which patients will be seen by the doctor.

It is only logical that the more serious case patient should be seen by the doctor first. However, this may result in less serious patients waiting endlessly. The algorithm for queue generally takes a combination of seriousness and wait time into consideration. For example, a less serious patient who has been waiting for 3 hours may be seen before a more serious patient who has been waiting for 5 minutes.

In a regular ward a patient is being cared for by a nurse and the doctor makes periodic rounds. However, in Emergency department, patient is mainly being cared by a doctor with nurse in a supporting role.

The patients could be in Emergency department for observation for a few hours and then discharged with instructions for followup treatent. In more acute cases patient may be admitted to emergency and remains in emergency till a suitable bed can be found in a regular ward.

The software should provide a census of patients in Emegency department. It should clearly mark the patients who have been seen by a doctor and the ones who have not been seen by a doctor. The patients who have not been seen should appear in the order in which they need to be seen. It should be possible to select a patient and be able to order diagnostic service, diet etc. Based on the diagnosis and other parameters like allergies, comorbities, current medication etc. nurses should be able to see the care paln and record their observations and clinical notes.

How does it work in your hospital? What kind of software you are using?