Business Solutions
Emergency Department Flow Improvement Through Patient Tracking Technology
Shanovia Smith
Pierce at Lackawanna College
HCA 520: Healthcare Informatics
Professor Dr. Devida J. Rembert
05/29/2026
Emergency Department Flow Improvement Through Patient Tracking Technology
The health care organization selected for this project is a community hospital with a large Emergency Department (ED) that sees about 40,000-50,000 patients per year. The emergency department is where someone would go if they had a serious health concern or an injury. As in other healthcare providers, the department's operations are challenging and have an impact on patient satisfaction and quality of care. The influx of patients due to a lack of efficiency in patient flow and communication is one of the most worrying problems. The issue is to be mitigated with the introduction of the Emergency Department Patient Tracking and Flow Management System, a healthcare technology that has been specifically developed for the Emergency Department to enhance patient flow and movement (Benjamin & Giuliano, 2024).
Organizational Issue
Currently, the monitoring of patient progress in the emergency department is only managed manually and in non-integrated ways (Mostafa & El-Atawi, 2024). Staff talk on the phone and give verbal updates, and use several computer systems, some of which don't give a single picture of patient status. This can result in backlogs at the time of patient registration, triage, diagnosis, treatment, and discharge.
This inefficiency poses several problems. It could take a considerable amount of time for patients to be assessed by a physician before making an appointment, which creates lots of dissatisfaction and grievances. Patients can have a hard time finding care providers to follow up with their condition and find out if their labs and imaging are completed. High rates of occupancy at treatment areas may arise because of not knowing in real time which region is available for treating and which are ready to be discharged. Moreover, long waiting periods can have repercussions on patient outcomes, particularly for those who need urgent medical care.
This will not only affect patients but also the hospital's performance as well. In addition to lowering staff productivity and operational costs, delays are also linked to decreased patient satisfaction scores, which today are becoming one key metric for healthcare quality (Morales, Silva-Aravena, & Saez, 2024). Hence, a technology-based solution with its ability to improve communication, coordination, and patient flow within the emergency department is necessary for the organization.
Proposed Healthcare Technology
The suggested solution is the deployment of the Emergency Department Patient Tracking and Flow Management System (EDPTFMS) alongside the existing Electronic Health Record (EHR) system in the hospital. The technology is specially targeted to the operations of emergency departments and not the entire hospital, which makes it an appropriate technology and targeted solution (Fapohunda, Akinlolu, & Omaghomi, 2025).
The system allows any patient's location to be tracked from the time that he/she enters the hospital until their discharge. Electronic dashboards show patient locations, priority, provider assignment, diagnostic testing status, treatment progress, and discharge readiness. Now, when patients are waiting more than a certain period, or the test results are ready, automated notifications are sent to healthcare workers. Physicians, nurses, registration, laboratory, and administration staff can all access the technology, helping to ensure everyone is on the same page.
How the Technology Resolves the Issue
The Patient Tracking and Flow Management System is designed to tackle inefficiencies within the emergency department, enhancing visibility, communication, and workflow coordination (Samadbeik et al., 2024). As for technology, one of the main features is that the employees are able to track the patient's vitals at any point in time. This facilitates faster identification of delays and a smooth patient treatment process.
Second, automated notifications decrease the departmental interaction barriers. Healthcare providers don't have to just use the telephone or speak to check if there have been any lab tests or treatment rooms available. Instead, the critical information will be forthwith disseminated on electronic dashboards.
Third, the system has the advantages of improving resource utilization, helping to monitor the travel of patients, rooms, and staff workloads. This enables leadership to make informed decisions on the staffing needs and best uses of resources during the high-demand period. Thereby, there is less overcrowding and more efficient patient care.
Lastly, reporting and analytics play a crucial role in producing helpful performance information (Younis, 2020). Based on the data available, hospital leaders can pinpoint weak points, time waits, assess workflow efficiency, and initiate ongoing improvement.
Reason for Selecting This Topic
Emergency department (ED) overcrowding and patient wait time are key issues that have consistently been concerns in the healthcare system and were selected for this topic. Delay in emergency care can have a negative influence on patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, and organizational performance. The Emergency Department Patient Tracking and Flow Management System is a solution that directly tackles these issues in an effective and cost-efficient manner. This technology can greatly enhance both patient experiences and operational efficiency by ensuring better communication, visibility of patients, and process efficiency. This project shows how a specific organizational issue can be addressed by a very specialized form of healthcare technology that will enhance and support high-quality patient-centered care delivery.
References
Benjamin, E., & Giuliano, K. K. (2024). Work systems analysis of emergency nurse patient flow management using the systems engineering initiative for patient safety model: Applying findings from a grounded theory study. JMIR Human Factors, 60176. https://humanfactors.jmir.org/2024/1/e60176/
Fapohunda, M., Akinlolu, V. S., & Omaghomi, T. T. (2025). A proposed model for improving patient flow efficiency through interdepartmental coordination and digital tracking systems. World Journal of Innovation and Modern Technology, 129-149. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Victoria-Akinlolu/publication/400969969_A_Proposed_Model_for_Improving_Patient_Flow_Efficiency_Through_Interdepartmental_Coordination_and_Digital_Tracking_Systems/links/6997ca29ca66ef6ab9943785/A-Proposed-Model-for-Improving-Patient-Flow-Efficiency-Through-Interdepartmental-Coordination-and-Digital-Tracking-Systems.pdf
Morales, J., Silva-Aravena, F., & Saez, P. (2024). Reducing waiting times to improve patient satisfaction: a hybrid strategy for decision support management. Mathematics, 3743. https://doi.org/10.3390/math12233743
Mostafa, R., & El-Atawi, K. (2024). Strategies to measure and improve emergency department performance: a review. Cureus. https://www.cureus.com/articles/215396-strategies-to-measure-and-improve-emergency-department-performance-a-review.pdf
Samadbeik, M., Staib, A., Boyle, J., Khanna, S., Bosley, E., Bodnar, D., & Sullivan, C. (2024). Patient flow in emergency departments: a comprehensive umbrella review of solutions and challenges across the health system. BMC health services research, 274. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-10725-6
Younis, N. M. (2020). The impact of big data analytics on improving financial reporting quality. International Journal of Economics, Business and Accounting Research (IJEBAR). https://doi.org/10.29040/ijebar.v4i03.1108