Information system’s impact on shift leaders’ indoor movement in emergency departments

Rising incidents of emergency department (ED) shift leader’s manual operation workflow is an increasing concern in ED operational information management. Shift leaders have a challenging task in running EDs. Currently, EDs are overcrowded, congested and patients are becoming more diverse. Staff have less and less time to carry out clinical monitoring and decision-making. In addition, there is increasing pressure to receive and repatriate patients. New information systems can help to cope with the increasing workload in busy ED operations management. (Lundgrén-Laine et al. 2013; Peltonen 2019)

The purpose of the study was to explore the movement of shift leaders before and after the implementation of the Columna Clinical Logistics (CCL) information system in the ED. A Bluetooth-based indoor positioning system was used in the study and 752 beacon records were collected between 2015-2016.

The results showed that there were differences in the stay time and the number of visits between the control units. In the intervention unit, the results of descriptive analysis of ED shift leaders' movement showed that the number of visits and the stay time were different between before and after implemented the CCL system. A statistical difference was seen in the nurse shift leaders’ movement during on-call hours (p=0.0193) before and after system implementation. 

The use of the CCL system can reduce the room visits and stay time by ED shift leader to collect relevant information, save leaders' time and energy, and improve the management efficiency of ED daily operation. Compared with normal office hours, the movement change of nurse shift leader during on-call hour is more significant. The use of the CCL system has not been able to significantly reduce the room visits and stay time for physician shift leader to collect relevant information. However, these findings must be interpreted with caution due to the limitations. More research is needed to validate these findings. 

Keywords: Emergency department; information system; shift leader; operations management

Author information 

Zhuqing Ren

RN, MNSc

Department of Nursing Science

University of Turku

Zhuqing.z.ren(at)utu.fi

 

References

Lundgrén-Laine, Heljä, Maria Kalafati, Elina Kontio, Tommi Kauko, and Sanna Salanterä. 2013. “Crucial Information Needs of ICU Charge Nurses in Finland and Greece.” Nursing in Critical Care 18(3):142–53.

Peltonen, Laura-Maria. 2019. Lectio Praecursoria, Information Needs in the Day-to-Day Operations Management of Hospital Units. Vol. 11.