The project team achieved 97% compliance in FY08 with a 26% reduction in the mean time to percutaneous coronary intervention. This time reduction was met by reducing time to ECG in the ED, reducing the time it takes to activate the catherization lab during off hours, and increasing the level of real time communication with all stakeholders in each instance of ST elevation myocardial infraction. Dr. Rahul Khare (Assistant Director or Operations) is part of the Project Team.
Over the course of the summer of 2008, the average ED length of stay decreased or remained steady despite month over month increases in patient volume. Drs. Michael Schmidt (Assistant Director or Operations) and Rahul Khare (Assistant Director or Operations) were co-sponsors for the project.
During the FY08 Q4, the ED and the inpatient floors improved performance in pneumonia care measures from 57% to 87%. Compliance with providing the recommended care elements for each individual metric improved to remain consistently above 90%. Dr. Martin Lucenti (Director of Clinical Operations) and Dr. Michael Schmidt (Assistant Director of Operations) were part of this project team. A pilot consisting of re-ordering the steps when responding to an emergency stroke code has resulted in a threefold increase in compliance with response times for patients receiving emergent CT brain. Dr. Amer Aldeen (Assistant Professor) was on the project team.
A hypothermia protocol was instituted to improve outcomes after return of spontaneous circulation in cardiac arrest. The Northwestern ED Hypothermia protocol was devised with a task force led by Dr. Richard Bernstein in the Department of Neurology and Dr. Amer Aldeen (Assistant Professor) in the Department of Emergency Medicine.
Piloted a new process that resulted in a 3+ hour reduction in overall length of stay by re-designing flow so that 100% of patients were seen by the Psych MD prior to hand-off from ED to Psychiatry compared to an initial baseline of 20%. Also, implemented new hand-off cares to improve communication of patient status upon transfer form the ED to the Psych ED. Dr. Michael Schmidt (Assistant Director of Operations) worked on this project team. | 
