Improving Patient Flow and Decreasing Patient Length of Stay in the Pediatric Emergency Department Through Implementation of a Fast Track.

Increased utilization of the emergency department (ED) for low acuity concerns saturates EDs, leading to overcrowding. As the ED becomes crowded, the quality of care threatens patient safety and increases length of stay. To improve the efficiency of evaluation and discharge of low acuity patients in the pediatric ED, a performance improvement project was implemented to develop a Fast Track.

Effect of pharmacist-led task force to reduce opioid prescribing in the emergency department.

Purpose: Results of a study to determine the effect of a pharmacist-led opioid task force on emergency department (ED) opioid use and discharge prescriptions are presented.

Methods: An observational evaluation was conducted at a large tertiary care center (ED volume of 115,000 visits per year) to evaluate selected opioid use outcomes before and after implementation of an ED opioid reduction program by interdisciplinary task force of pharmacists, physicians, and nurses. Volumes of ED opioid orders and discharge prescriptions were evaluated over the entire 25-month study period and during designated 1-month preimplementation and postimplementation periods (January 2017 and January 2018).