Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite Emergency Department
Atlanta, Georgia
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite Emergency Department
With more than 180 procedural sedations performed each month, the emergency department at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite needed more resources to ensure patients could receive timely sedation care. A Sedation Oversight Committee comprised of ED physicians, nursing educators, sedation physicians and quality improvement nurse specialists developed an initiative to expand the scope of practice for paramedics to include bedside management. As part of the preparation, the SOC worked with physicians and nurses to modify the existing online training module for nurses, and paramedics completed high-fidelity simulations before shadowing actual cases in the ED. Nurses reported feeling supported by the additional resource and that the paramedics’ involvement significantly reduced their workload, allowing them to focus on other patient care responsibilities. The “MD Assigned to Exit” metric decreased from 263 to 238 minutes. The collaboration between physicians, nurses and quality improvement nurse specialists was essential to the success of this initiative and the measurable outcomes that demonstrate this initiative made a tangible difference, enhancing the quality of care and the overall experience
for patients and staff alike.
for patients and staff alike.