Case Study: Workflow Redesign for a Regional Emergency Department

## Challenge A regional healthcare organization experienced persistent emergency department overcrowding, with average wait times exceeding provincial benchmarks. The root causes extended beyond capacity into clinical and administrative workflow inefficiencies embedded in the EHR configuration and departmental processes. ## Approach CodePhysician deployed a physician-engineer team to conduct a comprehensive workflow analysis over a four-week assessment period. The methodology included direct clinical observation, EHR utilization analysis, stakeholder interviews, and process mapping. ## Key Findings - Triage assessment workflows required redundant documentation across multiple system screens - Physician order entry paths were suboptimal for the most common ED presentations - Bed management processes lacked real-time visibility into downstream availability - Discharge workflows contained manual steps that could be systematically automated ## Interventions Based on the assessment findings, CodePhysician designed and implemented a series of targeted interventions including EHR workflow reconfiguration, order set optimization, real-time bed management dashboards, and automated discharge coordination workflows. ## Results Within 90 days of implementation, the organization measured a 22% reduction in average length of stay for admitted patients originating from the ED, a 15% improvement in triage-to-physician time, and measurable improvements in clinician satisfaction scores.