Anne Panik, RN, MS, CNAA, is Administrator, Patient Care Services; Joanna Bokovoy, RN, DrPH, is Director, Healthcare Research; Elizabeth Karoly, RRT, MBA, is Senior Analyst; Kimberly Badillo, RN, ACRN, is Patient Representative; Charlotte Buckenmyer, RN, MS, CEN, is Director, Emergency Department; Courtney Vose, RN, MSN, CRNP, is Director, Emergency Department; John Wheary, MD, is Emergency Physician; Gina Sierzega, MA, is Grants/Research Specialist; Lynn Deitrick, RN, PhD, is Medical Anthropologist; and Andrew Hyduke, BA, is Management Engineer, Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Accepted for publication October 24, 2005.
A questionnaire originally created for an intensive-care waiting room study was expanded in this study. The original questionnaire was done by one of the authors, Lynn Deitrick, RN, PhD (Ethnographer and Senior Scientist), with Dan Ray, MD (Medical Director, Medical-Surgical ICU), and Cathy Fuhrman, RN, BSN (Palliative Care Coordinator), for their critical care waiting room study supported by the "Promoting Palliative Care Excellence in the ICU" grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Dorothy Rider Pool Healthcare Trust, the Dexter F. and Dorothy H. Baker Fund, and Lehigh Valley Hospital.
Each of the following individuals is employed at LVHHN and had a special role in making this project possible. Thank you to Deb Sterner, AD (Hospitalist Program Coordinator), Darryl Arnold, BS (Research Associate), and Lori Ortiz, AD (Administrative Secretary), for their valuable study assistance. Thank you also to the leadership and teams for six strategic ED improvement projects, which paved the way for and had an impact on this project: (a) CT Scan & "Turn Around Time" Reduction-David Richardson, MD (Medical Director); (b)Triage and Bedside Registration-Charlotte Buckenmeyer, RN, MS (Director), Courtney Vose, RN, MSN (Director), and Mary Ellen Bedics, BS; (c) POD* Improvements-Richard MacKenzie, MD (Vice Chair, Emergency Medicine), and Regina Natale, RN (Patient Care Coordinator); (d) Line & Alerts-Anne Panik (Administrator) and Alex Rosenau, DO (Associate Vice Chair, Emergency Medicine); (e)ED Diagnostic Team-Chris Lewis, RN, MPH (Administrator), and Richard MacKenzie, MD (Vice Chair, Emergency Medicine); and (f) ED Waiting Room Ambassador Program-Mary Ellen Bedics, BS (Registration Manager).
* POD refers to a grouping of beds by different geographical areas of the ED.
Corresponding author: Gina Sierzega, MA, Grants/Research Specialist, Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network, Suite 104b, 1247 S. Cedar Crest Blvd., Allentown, PA 18103 (e-mail: [email protected]).
