FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SEE AND TREAT PATHWAY IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT OF SAN CAMILLO-FORLANINI HOSPITAL

Abstract

Introduction: To date, Emergency Department overcrowding represents one of the most important problems regarding the organisation of emergency healthcare. See and Treat was devised in England around the 1980s to provide an effective solution to the overcrowding issue. The Emergency Nurse Practitioner indicates a faster pathway in selected patients with certain characteristics. This model translates into a reduction in waiting times while maintaining the same quality of care. Aim: To evaluate the potential benefits for patients of the implementation of the See and Treat model within the Emergency Department. Materials and Methods: Using the GIPSE system, all Emergency Department entries from 2019 have been selected. Minor codes in the triage phase have been considered, as well as those potentially falling within the See and Treat protocol. Each included case has been associated to a See and Treat diagnosis. The waiting time and the time spent in the Emergency Department were derived from the data collected. Results: 9.41% of the sample is eligible for the See and Treat method, with an average waiting time of one hour and peaks of almost 4 hours for white codes. The application of the See and Treat model to the population covered by our study would reduce the waiting times at the Emergency Department by 6.99%, reduce the simultaneous presence of users on the Emergency Department by 8.88% and reduce the stay for other minor codes by 4.38%. Discussion: The percentage of patients treatable in the See and Treat system (11%) is in line with the Tuscany trial but statistically lower than the international context (from 63% to 90%). The results obtained from this study showed the significant impact that the See and Treat model could have on reducing overcrowding, positively affecting both users and staff.