An innovative nursing initiative is improving waiting-room flow and enabling patients to receive care more quickly than ever at Mount Sinai’s Schwartz/Reisman Emergency Centre.

Rapid Assessment Zone (RAZ) nurses are redefining the care experience in Emergency and playing a critical role in the success of Mount Sinai’s Wait Time Strategy. All patients at the Emergency Centre are benefiting from the creation of a Rapid Assessment Zone, where nurses treat patients who are well enough to sit in chairs rather than a stretcher and await diagnosis. As a result, more patients have access to stretchers and spend less time in the waiting room.

“Without altering our budget and staffing resources, we have managed to free up beds in Emergency and reduce the number of patients waiting for treatment at any given time,” says Carolyn Farquharson, Nursing Unit Administrator at the Centre. “This has been a huge win for patients and staff.”

Mount Sinai Hospital’s wait-time targets have been measured each week since October 2008, and the results are encouraging. Wait times measure the total amount of time a patient is visiting Emergency - from arrival to discharge or hospital admission. At the end of the fiscal year 2008-09, wait times at Mount Sinai were below the provincial average for complex medical conditions.

The RAZ initiative has been working in tandem with Mount Sinai’s award-winning Emergency Medical Services offload nurse program to ensure that patients are seen as quickly as possible.

“We know that reducing wait times in the Emergency Room increases patient satisfaction,” says Farquharson, “and patient satisfaction is an important indicator of our performance.”