In this project, I will create patient flows to accompany the aspects of service design I create. In order to do this, I want to get a better understanding of the current A&E patient flows and the ways in which the UK health authorities structure their patient flows. Disclaimer: There is a lot of copy and pasting in this post. I am using it as a way to gather in all relevant content in a factual manner which I can refer back to for the rest of my project.

The 6-Phase Process

Based on the standard nursing process of: prepare, assess, diagnose, plan, treat and evaluate. While illustrated using a patient care cycle, the six phase process is the same as the generic improvement cycle Plan, Do, Study, Act and gives clinical staff a structured approach to improving clinical area processes that is very similar to the care cycle they are familiar with,

Productive Patient Flow

What is productive patient flow?

Productive patient flows are those which support a patient’s journey through the department so that they receive appropriate care in a timely manner and are kept well informed during this process. This enables the department to maximise the number of patients that can be treated.

STAGE 1: FIRST CONTACT

• The first contact that a patient has with a member of staff will typically be the receptionist who has an important role to play in the patient’s visit to the unit. The receptionist’s primary task is to take down basic patient information (name, demographics, etc.)

STAGE 2: PATIENT ASSESSMENT

• An initial assessment of the patient should be made as soon as practically possible. This assessment is there to serve a single purpose, which is to identify the appropriateness of the patient for the model of care provided by the unit.

STAGE 3: PATIENT PRIORITISATION

• Appropriate patients will typically be treated on a first come first served basis. However, it may be there is some prioritisation in place (eg, children, elderly, etc). If prioritisation is not defined, treatment will not be delivered consistently and patients are likely to be frustrated at the lack of transparency in the unit’s operation.

STAGE 4: TREATMENT

• The process of treatment is well established in an MIU setting based on individual patient assessment.