Chicagomag.com: Ingalls Emergency Department Has Shortest Wait Times

Hurry up and wait may be the experience of most patients in a hospital emergency department, but not at Ingalls Memorial Hospital.

Ingalls recently was recognized as having the lowest emergency department wait times out of Cook County’s 10 busiest ERs, according to the October 2015 edition of Chicagomag.com.

In fact, of the more than 103,000 ER visits to Ingalls in 2014 (including the hospital and its three Urgent Aid facilities), Ingalls patients waited, on average, only 11 minutes before they were seen by a doctor or nurse, nearly half the wait of the next lowest hospital. What’s more, Ingalls patients were treated and sent home in just two hours and 12 minutes.

“We use a ‘direct-to-bed’ approach that allows patients to be triaged (or evaluated) in an emergency department bed without waiting in the triage area out front,” explains Ingalls Emergency Department Chairman Saif Nazir, M.D.

That means when an emergency patient comes to Ingalls, they are immediately taken to an ER bed, eliminating a stressful delay in the waiting room.

Ingalls has 26 private Emergency Department beds at the hospital and 32 private beds across its three Urgent Aid Centers in Flossmoor, Tinley Park and Calumet City.

The Ingalls Emergency Department and Urgent Aid Centers implemented the “direct-to-bed” approach several years ago thanks to the innovative and ongoing work of a multidisciplinary patient-flow committee that includes representation from several key hospital departments. As a result, Ingalls has experienced what few hospitals have: decreasing wait times and rising satisfaction scores for several years running.

At most hospital emergency departments, long wait times are caused by patient-flow problems. When delays occur in any area of the hospital, e.g., X-ray, Lab, patient care units, ER patients get the brunt of it. But not at Ingalls.

Ingalls created its hospital-wide patient flow committee several years ago to minimize hold-ups in care.

“Every department in the hospital has to be on the same wavelength,” adds Paul Zielske, Director of Patient Care Services. “If we can’t move a patient out of the ER, we can’t bring another one in.”

Another timesaving factor has been the addition of documentation specialists or scribes in the Emergency Department and Ingalls Urgent Aid Centers, which helps save the attending physician time on paperwork and increase his/her time with patients.

By handling documentation responsibilities and scheduling diagnostic tests, the scribe frees the physician to focus on the needs of patients, give more thought to complex cases, better manage patient flow through the department, and see patients on a timelier basis.

“Sixty percent of inpatients come from the Emergency Department,” adds Kathy Mikos, DNP, RN, Vice President for Patient Care Services. “We view the Emergency Department as the front door of our organization. By helping to expedite the overall experience, we’re showing another level of commitment to our patients.”

Finally, Ingalls implemented an innovative online reservation service – InQuicker – in 2011 to minimize waits for minor emergencies. InQuicker allows patients to choose the time they’d like to be seen at the hospital or the Urgent Aid Centers and then wait in the comfort of their home before their scheduled appointment.

All of these factors add up to timely emergency treatment across the board.

“We’ve created a culture at Ingalls that we all own this process,” Mikos added. “Not every organization has that same attitude. Our goal is to be the best Emergency Department in the south suburbs.”