Quality indicators of the emergency department at hospital de San José de Bogotá DC, Colombia Indicadores de calidad en el servicio de urgencias Hospital de San José de Bogotá DC, Colombia

Abstract

Objectives: to evaluate quality indicators (waiting time to triage, waiting time to initialassessment by doctor and number of patients whose situation was resolved within less than six hours) at the emergency department of Hospital de San José de Bogotá DC, during July 2012. Methods: observational, descriptive, cross-sectional retrospective, randomized study of information registered in clinical records. Sample size (n) includes 372 clinical records of a total number of 3,061 patients who attended the emergency department. Results: Two figures were reported on time to triage: one of 43.7 minutes since registration by the emergency room security guards and the other of 19.4 minutes when registration was performed by the triage assistant; 82.9% ofthe sample reported a time to triage 2 ofless than 30 minutes; 86.5% reported being seen by the physician within less than 60 minutes. The proportion ofpatients seen and resolved within the first six hours was 71.1%, with a mean time to resolution of4.9 hours. Conclusions: a significant number of patients experienced a long wait to triage and to initial assessment by doctor; the unresolved cases within the first six hours were 28%, which in general terms contribute to overcrowding ofthe emergency room.