Cooper University Health Care Camden Campus Emergency Department
Camden, New Jersey
Cooper University Health Care Camden Campus Emergency Department
Recognizing delays in the identification and treatment of critically ill patients who did not meet traditional trauma or stroke activation criteria, Cooper University Health Care’s Emergency Department developed the nurse-driven Priority Alert program. Emergency nurses partnered with physicians, respiratory therapy, pharmacy, radiology and flow management to create standardized activation criteria that rapidly mobilize interdisciplinary resources. Since implementation, more than 1,600 priority alerts have been activated, decreasing arrival-to-provider time from 32 to 16 minutes while improving care coordination for the department’s highest acuity patients. The initiative strengthened nursing autonomy, standardized emergency response and enhanced timely delivery of life-saving care.
To improve outcomes for patients with suspected acute stroke, Cooper University Health Care’s 64-bed ED redesigned its stroke workflow by implementing a direct-to-CT pathway. Emergency nurses collaborated with neurology, emergency physicians, radiology, EMS and flow management to bypass traditional room placement and transport eligible patients directly to CT upon arrival. The streamlined process reduced median door-to-CT time for EMS prenotification patients from 16 minutes to 8 minutes, with 100 percent of patients meeting the department’s goal of imaging within 10 minutes. The initiative improved coordination, reduced treatment delays and strengthened interdisciplinary collaboration for time-sensitive stroke care.