SURVEYING PATIENTSÂ IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT
Data Collection Overview
1. Signing Up For a Shift
2. PPE Guidance
3. Arrival and Work Flow
4. Preview of Follow-Up Call Process
1. SIGNING UP FOR A SHIFT
Emory University Hospital Midtown Emergency Department
If you have not yet done so, please contact Dr. Lewis to access the Google calendar containing his shift schedule at EUHM. If you have a Gmail account, Dr. Lewis's schedule can easily be added to your own Google calendar, as per the instructions provided in the email when he invites you.
2. PPE GUIDANCE
Your Safety is Our Priority
As a kind reminder, you will be provided PPE to keep and use in your work moving forward, including your own personal face shield and N95 mask. Furthermore, when you are working in the hospital, please wear professional clothing (business casual) and refrain from wearing scrubs, as doing the latter could confuse the care provider teams you work with.
3. ARRIVAL AND WORK FLOW
Surveying Patients in the EUHM Emergency Department
The work flow procedures below are here for your reference, but please note that you will be guided through the following process upon your initial in-person training.
To begin, please bring your access badge, N95 mask, and face shield to the Emergency Department in the zone that Dr. Lewis is working in during his shift for that day (indicated on his Google calendar and the shift sign-up sheet linked above). If your badge is not working, you can go to the security office on the second floor to request to have it reprogrammed. If the security office is not open, you should text Dr. Lewis to let you in for that day.
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Additionally, you will be offering all of your patients, regardless of their choice to enroll in our study, a Community Health Resources flyer. Please review it below.
CONSULT ROOM
Locate the consult room in Zone 1 of the Emergency Department and enter. The door code is 52210#.
Once inside the consult room, open the black file cabinet under the counter in the far left corner of the room. The code for the file cabinet combination lock is 1980.
Take the iPad and Community Health Resources flyers. The code to unlock the iPad is 0126.
Log in to a computer using your Emory NetID (which is the same as your REDCap and FirstNet login credentials) to access FirstNet and identify patients that may be eligible for our project (as indicated by the yellow clipboard icon under the 'Events' column).
Determine whether or not the identified patients have previously been surveyed in our study by accessing RedCap and navigating to our project, going to 'Add/Edit Records' under 'Data Search', choosing first or last name as the field, and then typing the patient's name in the search query to see if a prior record exists for them. If a patient has previously been surveyed by our team, you will administer a slightly shorter follow-up survey. The details for accessing the follow-up survey are described in the 'Approaching Your Patients' section below.
DR. LEWIS'S WORK STATION
Go to the Emergency Department zone that Dr. Lewis is working in during the shift you signed up for.
Consult with Dr. Lewis to double-check patient eligibility and safety before approaching and entering patient areas.
PATIENT ENROLLMENT SCRIPT
The importance of receiving informed consent from patients cannot be over-emphasized.
As such, please inform patients that they have been identified for enrollment in this study because they have had more than 5 emergency department visits in a 12-month period. The goal of this study is to determine if we can provide better, lasting care while reducing the need to utilize the Emergency Department when possible. Their personal health information is secure and confidential. There is no cost or money received for participation in this study. It should just take a few minutes of their time to answer questions and receive follow-up contact. Participation is voluntary and can be ended at any time. Their enrollment decision in no way affects their care now or in the future.
APPROACHING YOUR PATIENTS
On the iPad (code 0126), open the BROC-In APT survey located on the home screen. This will generate a new record, defaulted to the full initial survey for a patient that has not yet been enrolled in our study. If the patient was previously surveyed in our study, open RedCap, click the 'Record Status Dashboard', and select the gray button under the column corresponding to the appropriate visit number in the 'Brocinapt' row to access the survey.
Please greet your patient kindly and professionally. Introduce yourself and inform your patient about our research by following the patient enrollment script (noted in the sub-section above).
If your patient is willing to take the survey, they (or you) may enter their responses to the survey questions. Their Medical Record Number (MRN) is 10-digit identifier located on their white wristband. Note that some patients do not have phone numbers or emails. This is not an exclusion to enrollment and will be used to inform how we might retool our protocols in the future.
If your patient declines taking the survey, thank them for their consideration. Importantly, please take note of the total number of patient refusals you received during your shift and record this information in the spreadsheet linked below.
Regardless of whether your patient enrolled in our study, please provide them with the Community Health Resources flyer and inform them that they can seek out those resources for free, again, regardless of whether or not they enrolled in our study.
Please take note (names/record IDs) of the patients you surveyed during your shift. You will need this information for the next step in data collection (follow-up calls). This is a very important step, so please do not neglect it.
ENDING YOUR SHIFT
Thank you so much for your time and help! The work you do is very important for the well-being of our community, and we are grateful for your contributions.
Please return to the consult room, plug the iPad back into its charger inside the file cabinet, and return the remaining Community Health Resources flyers to the file cabinet. Please be sure to let Dr. Lewis know when you end your shift.
4. PREVIEW OF FOLLOW-UP CALL PROCESS
Following Up With Your Patients by Phone Call
Congratulations on beginning your work in the EUHM Emergency Department! Now that you have spent time with your patients, you will follow up with them within 14-28 days of your interaction with them in the hospital. This timeline is very important, so please ensure you meet this requirement.