Northeast Georgia Medical Center – Braselton Emergency Department

Braselton, Gerogia

While volumes for this campus have increased by more than 2,700 patients for the year, the 27-bed emergency department’s left without being seen rate has trended from 1.2 percent in January 2023 to 0.65% at the end of the year due to the improvement in processes for how clinicians are seeing their low-acuity length of stay patients. These changes included patient flow, increased triage accuracy, and clinician shift changes.

Staff also worked to improve nurse schedules. The leadership for this hospital had noted staff complaints related to difficulty getting a lunch break. It was determined that productivity supported adding two additional nursing shifts each day to support lunch coverage. These shifts are four-hour shifts, one during the day and one during the night. This shift is solely in the department to move from one nurse to another and relieve them for lunch breaks. The hours of these shifts are designed to be able to accommodate nurses on days, mid-shifts, and night shifts.