Photo Credit: Pornpak Khunatorn

The following is a summary of the “Implementation of Vertical Split Flow Model for Patient Throughput at a Community Hospital Emergency Department,” published in the January 2023 issue of Emergency Medicine by Hsieh, et al.

Hospitals have developed novel approaches to improving patient flow to alleviate crowding in the emergency department (ED). The term “vertical split flow” describes placing patients in vertical chairs rather than horizontal beds, depending on their needs. Study the effect of vertical split flow on patient throughput, length of stay, and Emergency Severity Index (ESI) level 3 in a community hospital’s emergency department.

Research comparing the outcomes of patients with ESI levels 3 and 4 who presented to an emergency department at a community hospital in the 3 months before and after the introduction of vertical split flow in 2018 and 2019. A total of 10,638 patient visits were used for data collection (5,262 visits were taken from patients before the intervention, and 5,376 were taken from patients afterward). 

Triaging ESI-3 patients using vertical split flow resulted in a statistically significant decrease in the average overall length of stay (251 min vs. 283 min, P<0.001). There was a significant decrease in the median length of stay and an increase in throughput after vertical split flow was implemented for ESI level 3 patients in community hospital EDs. This model offers a way to handle more patients at once in the ED without adding personnel or expanding the facility’s square footage.

Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0736467922005704