Effect of emergency department fast track on emergency department length of stay : a case-control study

Objective: To examine the effect of fast track on emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS).Design and setting: Pair-matched case&ndash;control design in a public teaching hospital in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia.Participants: Patients treated by the ED fast track (cases) between 1 January and 31 March 2007 were compared with patients treated by the usual ED processes (controls) from 1 July to 15 November 2006 (n = 822 matched pairs).Intervention: ED fast track was established in November 2006 and focused on the management of patients with non-urgent complaints.Main outcome measures: The primary outcome measure was ED LOS for fast-track patients. Secondary outcomes were waiting times and ED LOS for other ED patients.Results: Median ED LOS for non-admitted patients was 132 minutes (interquartile range (IQR) 83&ndash;205.25) for controls and 116 minutes (IQR 75.5&ndash;159.0) for cases (p&lt;0.01). Fast-track patients had a significantly higher incidence of discharge within 2 h (53% vs 44%, p&lt;0.01) and 4 h (92% vs 84%, p&lt;0.01).Conclusions: ED fast track decreased ED LOS for non-admitted patients without compromising waiting times and ED LOS for other ED patients<br /

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Celebrating 20 Years of the ExCEEd Teaching Workshop

In response to the clear need for faculty training, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) developed and funded Project ExCEEd (Excellence in Civil Engineering Education) which is celebrating its twentieth year of existence. For the past two decades, 38 ExCEEd Teaching Workshops (ETW) have been held at six different universities. The program has 910 graduates from over 267 different U.S. and international colleges and universities. The ExCEEd effort has transformed from one that relied on the grass roots support of its participants to one that is supported and embraced by department heads and deans. This paper summarizes the history of Project ExCEEd, describes the content of the ETW, assesses its effectiveness, highlights changes in the program as a result of the assessment, and outlines the future direction of the program