Co-operation in emergency care between Helsinki University Central

Hospital and City of HelsinkiLiisa-Maria Voipio-Pulkki MD, PhDChief Physician, Emergency Care

Dept of Medicine, HUCHliisa-maria.voipio-pulkki@hus.fi

(Senior Medical Adviser, The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, 2-12/04)

Does EMS matter?• in Finnish university hospitals in 2002,

emergency / acute care consumed – 20-30% of laboratory and imaging capacity– 44% of ward capacity (also in psychiatry)– 27% of surgical capacity (in Meilahti 50%)

• 40% of hospital costs

Strategic questions in EMS• Emergency/acute services have become

the mainstream of health care delivery– why? is it good or bad for the outcome?– gatekeeper, outreach, crossroads or what?– thinner EBM tradition– heavy conflicts of interest common – secondary effects of political decision making

• Based on patient transfer or transfer of information, professionals & responsibility?

• Role in regional clinical pathways?

Helsinki in the 2000´s:Increasing volumes, fluctuation,

overcrowding, unclear resource allocation• # visits and hospitalized patients in 2003

– internal medicine 12 700 (51%)– surgery 8 600 (56%)– neurology 7 500(39%)

• situation in primary care– 20-30% of GP visits– no defined strategy to centralize or

decentralize acute primary care– innovative models needed, partic geriatric pts

Who are our ”customers”?

What is our role in providing serviceto them?

How good are we?

Helsinki University Central Hospital EMS

Customers: population basis

HUCH

Helsinki and Uusimaa 1 403 622

Kymenlaakson 182 259

Etelä-Karjala 129 582

Total 1 715 463

Fragmentation of EMS in Helsinki

out-of-hospital EMSacute care by GP´s (public / private)

centralized primary care (4PM-)joint minor trauma and pediatric services

small ER´s by some clinics separate orthopedics & trauma center

joint ER for medicine, neurology, surgeryseparate psychiatry services

General practice and specialized care – simplified ”24/7 one door principle”

Minor trauma24 h / d

Hospital ER basic level

24 h / dCentralized acute primary care 4-10 P.M.

Specialized care24 h / d

Predicted volume of university and city (hospital) emergency services

in 2005Visits per year

Primary level 88 000

Intermediate level 35 000

Specialized level (excl trauma center) 35 000

Total 158 000

How to direct patient flows?• common planning (all hospitals, EMS) with

semiannual feedback consultations• described in writing for all partners• based on needs, no organizational borders• global acceptance for present application• inform all staff groups AND the public• provide multiple tools for implementation• surveys, audits, automated follow-up• set compliance goals (max 75-80%!)

Variable case load in specialized care– how to predict and adapt

(or perhaps even more than that…)structured statistics, buffers, simulations…

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tammi helmi maalis huhti

20012002

Electronic patient chart and hospital administration Electronic patient chart and hospital administration system: hourly to monthly reporting, process analysissystem: hourly to monthly reporting, process analysis

Tailored reports to all levels of staff & management,derived from the same database

How to control outcome?

(whose outcome..with which indicators..so

what?)

From reactive to proactive leadership in acute care

• explicit local agreements• appropriate clinical pathways & in-

house processes (a lot of work!)• structured treatment protocols• decision support toolkits• realistic resources (bechmarking?)• measure, inform, audit• communication, feedback mechanisms,

error surveillance and prevention

Academic Emergency Medicine?

(academic = special hospital care?)

Common strategy in EMS:is there more than the visit numbers,

walls and technology (power, money and fame…) ?

• demand evidence based practices and knowledge based political decision making

• systems thinking: move from power play to cooperation and win-win

• treasure team work and empower devoted staff, but question traditions

• HBU: EMS as a societal safety net – who´s health care is it anyway?