Relieving Pressure on the Emergency Department with a New Treatment Pathway for Hand Trauma Patients - A Three-Year Experience with 15,539 Patients.

Hand injuries are a significant and rising burden on the Emergency Department (ED), often leading to protracted waiting times for patients awaiting specialist input. To combat this, a new treatment pathway for hand trauma was introduced at our institution to reduce waiting times and pressure on the ED. The treatment pathway performance using waiting times, length of stay and cost metrics was measured prior to and following the introduction of a new treatment pathway.