Stocking of a Busy Emergency Department

Emergencies Clinical Trial

Official title:

Stocking of a Busy Emergency Department

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01586832
• Other study ID #: 2-20080104
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: July 19, 2011
• Last updated: October 13, 2016
• Start date: January 2008
• Est. completion date: December 2013

Study information

• Verified date: October 2016
• Source: Lehigh Valley Hospital
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: United States: Institutional Review Board
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

Stocking of essential supplies in an emergency department (ED) is crucial in order to efficiently and effectively take care of patients. When equipment and supplies are not available to patient care providers, an imbalance in the delivery of care is created. The amount of time nurses spend away from the bedside obtaining supplies has only been superficially studied; however, one study proposed that the majority of nurses spend 5 to 20 percent or more of their time during a shift. This results in 30 minutes to two-and-a-half hours of a twelve hour shift being lost to retrieving supplies that are not available.

Cabinets and drawers have recently been eliminated in the rooms and stock is kept in "supply towers" that contain all the necessary supplies to adequately take care of patients with the exception of medications, or stationary supplies. Towers are restocked every morning by a stocking technician by taking the towers to the stock room, resupplying them based on previously established PAR levels, and utilizing a standard chart that describes exactly what supply, and how many to stock within a specified area of the cart.

During their shift, the stocking technician must also respond to pages concerning low stock levels.

Hypothesis:

Nurses spend a significant amount of time away from the patient bedside during their shift looking for supplies.

Description:

Objectives:

• Determine the amount of time nurses spend outside of a patient room obtaining supplies to care for the patient.

• Determine what supplies are obtained when the room is left.

• Determine how many times per shift the nurse leaves to obtain the same item.

• Determine if utilizing a "supply tower" located in patient rooms decreases the amount of time nurses spend obtaining supplies outside of a patient room to care for patients.

• Determine if implementation of a full time stocking technician decreases the amount of time that nurses spend outside a patient's room obtaining stock.

• Conduct spot checks on carts to determine if PAR levels are over, under, or exactly as established.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 565
• Est. completion date: December 2013
• Est. primary completion date: December 2013
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: Both
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Nurse is an employee of LVHHN, and is working at the CC site.

• Nurse is working a full shift (7a-7p, 7p-7a, 7a-3p, 3p-11p, 11p-7a).

• The nurse being observed is working in Pod 1, Pod 2, Pod 3, or Pod 4 at the CC site.

• The supply needed is related to a procedural task for patient care.

Exclusion Criteria:

• The nurse is working at LVH-M or LVH-17.

• The nurse being observed is working in the express care area or trauma bay.

• The supply being obtained is a supply that is not maintained in the cart (Appendix 2).

• The nurse is scheduled for a shift less than 8 hours.

Study Design

Observational Model: Cohort, Time Perspective: Prospective

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Emergencies

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Lehigh Valley Health Network	Allentown	Pennsylvania

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Lehigh Valley Hospital

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	time nurses spend away from patients bedside	The average time nurses spend away from the bedside searching for supplies for patient care during an ED stay (an expected average of 2.5 hours)	Outcome will be assessed for one year as the average time nurses spend away from the bedside searching for supplies for patient care during an ED stay (an expected average of 2.5 hours)	No
Secondary	Supplies searched for	This is the type of supply that the nurse was searching for that was not available at the bedside.	Outcome will be assessed for one year as the type of supply that the nurses are searching for that was not available at the bedside searching for supplies for patient care during an ED stay (an expected average of 2.5 hours)	No