Good Samaritan Western Ridge Emergency Department

Cincinnati, Ohio

The freestanding Good Samaritan Western Ridge Emergency Department has achieved strong results in patient experience, safety and team member engagement. Staff at the 16-bed ED support high-quality care through evidence-based initiatives, including direct bedding that uses a “pull-until-full” model and practices that guide communication and decision-making such as SBAR handoff, STAR and ARCC. The team also uses violence-risk screening and de-escalation techniques to reduce restraint use.

Patient-centered enhancements, such as white noise machines and charging stations, further improve comfort and have helped sustain top-box patient experience performance for the past two fiscal years.

As patient satisfaction and employee engagement are closely connected, the team has worked to foster a healthy, supportive culture that reduces stress and enables team members to do their best work. This begins with peer involvement in the hiring process and continues through staffing practices that provide appropriate coverage for volume, mid-shift lunch support, access to an on-site fitness room and a weekly boot camp class. The team also strengthens relationships through gatherings outside of the unit. Over the past three years, minimal nurse turnover occurred due to retirement. The department’s Always Open team member engagement survey’s current results indicate a 100 percent favorability rating.