38 ◾ Accelerating Health Care Transformation
hospital EDs. Patients are greeted by a clinician, and then assessed and assigned
to one of three flows within minutes of arrival. Patients who do not need acute
hospital care are treated by nurses and care team members utilizing rapid medical
examination concepts and evidence- based guidelines embedded in standing orders.
is ensures that this low- acuity population receives the right amount of care, in
the right place, at the right time. ese patients come into the ED space only a few
dozen feet, never occupy a bed, receive personalized express treatment, and are
rapidly discharged to home.
A second flow identifies patients who are not acutely ill, but can neither be
immediately discharged (bec