No More Lethal Waits

Book excerpt: No More Lethal Waits is a concise and compelling step-by-step guide to transform emergency departments in Canada and anywhere patients wait unconscionable times for their needs to be met. Dr. Shawn Whatley - who knows whereof he speaks, having led and participated in radical change to a large emergency department - summarizes the steps as: 1. Revamp Triage. 2. Close the Waiting Room. 3. Redefine Nurse-to-Patient Ratios. 4. Use Chairs and Exam Tables, Not Stretchers. 5. Change Scheduling to Meet Patient Needs More Efficiently. 6. Give MDs Responsibility for Flow and Hire Patient Navigators. 7. Use Real-Time Data and Adopt a Full Capacity Protocol. 8. Expect Resistance and Prepare for It. 9. Build on Solid Leadership Principles. 10. Get Political. "...Dr. Shawn Whatley is a revolutionary medical systems thinker." -COLIN LESLIE, Editor-in-Chief, The Medical Post "A call to administrators and nursing and physician leaders alike...Damn the torpedoes and do the right thing for patients." -GRANT INNES, MD, Founding Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine "...will ...return pride and joy back to emergency medicine." -MARKO DUIC, MD, Chief, Department of Emergency Medicine, Southlake Regional Health Centre, Newmarket, Ontario "For the courageous, this book promises to spark discussion; it is a must read for everyone involved in emergency care." -CHRIS SIMPSON, MD, Chair, Wait Time Alliance, 2014-2015 President, Canadian Medical Association "...poses, presses, and answers the question: How can we continue to tolerate long and dangerous waits in the emergency department when there are clear solutions which cost little and can save lives?" -PETER VICCELLIO, MD, Clinical Director, Department of Emergency Medicine, Stony Brook University Hospital, New York "Where's the beef in this book? It's in the sacred cows of emergency medicine that Dr. Whatley kills... A must read for anyone frustrated with a system that presumes people must wait." -JON JOHNSEN, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Thunder Bay "...a very stimulating and awakening message." -STEPHEN B. STOKL, MD, author of Mentally Speaking