Nurses’ Experiences with an Electronic Tracking System in the Emergency Department: A Qualitative Study
A variety of medical conditions and injuries must be treated in the ED. The ED is usually overcrowded, which contributes to difficulties in providing timely and safe treatment. However, the transformation of the health system in Saudi Arabia when it comes to improving patient access to care has made the time required to complete triage, assessments, and treatments in the ED the main indicator for hospital performance. The Ministry of Health’s target is that 86% of patients be triaged, assessed, and treated in less than four hours. With overcrowding and extensive data control in the ED, treating and dispositioning patients within the target time frame can be challenging. The situation in the ED is constantly changing; therefore, utilizing technology has had an impact on the quality of the services provided. The ever-changing circumstances require a real-time tracking system. The potential for an electronic tracking system—called a dashboard—to improve patient safety, decision-making, efficiency, and workflow has been reported.
The dashboard is the main electronic screen located at the most visual point in the department.4 The dashboard displays data from the main hospital electronic system, where the basic patient health history and updated data are located.4 These data are generated by the hospital health system and visualized by the dashboard; the data can be used by nurses and other healthcare providers to assess the current status of the ED, patient volume, staff performance, and patient clinical situations, hence providing an overview to clinicians and managers that can help them in making decisions.5 This advanced tool is being used to show concise patient information in a more useful way. A visualized dashboard offers an easy and accurate way to sort, analyze, and manage patients’ health information and helps medical teams stay updated about the patients’ real situations.6 This could assist in providing better health services that are consistent with international standards in less time.6 The ED dashboard can work in conjunction with a reporting application to support data-driven processes, supporting hospital improvement projects by providing access to the necessary data through the system, and helping to provide safe, timely, efficient, and cost-effective emergency care.
The continual development of a unit-based nursing dashboard and awareness of its importance in the development of quality nursing care within organizations has led to the successful implementation and evolution of unit-based nursing dashboards.8 Frazier and Williams et al concluded that the dashboard facilitates and improves the quality of patient care. The organization usually emphasizes the improvement of the dashboard and tracking process to keep information available in ways that are efficient and beneficial. The application and active use of the visualized dashboard can increase aliens’ compliance with regulations and standards, which plays an integral part in the development of nursing quality programs within an organization. Single electronic screens have helped in task coordination among end-users by providing a higher quality of communication and giving the informatics department an accurate picture to measure the metrics that enhance the quality improvement process
