ParallelED—A novel screening and referral intervention using emergency department wait times to identify and address unmet social needs
Abstract Background People arriving at the emergency department (ED) often have unmet health‐related social needs (HRSN). We implemented an intervention that used undergraduate student volunteers to screen patients in the ED waiting room (WR) for unmet social drivers of health and subsequently refer...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/emp2.13080 |
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| author | John Purakal Gene Moon Grace Lee Matthew Yuan Haripriya Dukkipati James J. Zheng Amitesh Verma Susan Spratt Janet Prvu Bettger |
| author_facet | John Purakal Gene Moon Grace Lee Matthew Yuan Haripriya Dukkipati James J. Zheng Amitesh Verma Susan Spratt Janet Prvu Bettger |
| author_sort | John Purakal |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background People arriving at the emergency department (ED) often have unmet health‐related social needs (HRSN). We implemented an intervention that used undergraduate student volunteers to screen patients in the ED waiting room (WR) for unmet social drivers of health and subsequently referred patients to community resources. Methods This cross‐sectional quality improvement study included patients who were approached to complete a HRSN screening questionnaire, subsequently referred to community resources, and followed up by phone from October 2021 to October 2022 in an ED WR of an academic medical center. Primary measures were the proportions of patients who had unmet HRSN and the proportions enrolled in a statewide database of social care resources—NCCARE360. Patient demographics and geospatial distribution were also assessed to better understand the population served. Results Our intervention reached 3297 unique patients, with 398 patients (12%) agreeing to complete screening. Of those screened, 93% were positive for at least one social need and 95% of the aforementioned were interested in receiving assistance. A total of 60% of those who screened positive were enrolled into NCCARE360. Persons identifying as female or non‐Hispanic Black were disproportionately represented at a higher rate among those who screened positive for at least one social need, with food and housing insecurity emerging as the most common referral categories. Conclusion Our results demonstrate patients’ willingness to be screened in the ED WR and a high identification of HRSN. Our findings show that idle time in the ED WR can be used to identify patients with unmet HRSN and refer them to resources. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ffa049999ead48b3aa9b8461bcb3a0a0 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2688-1152 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-ffa049999ead48b3aa9b8461bcb3a0a02025-08-20T03:06:13ZengElsevierJournal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open2688-11522023-12-0146n/an/a10.1002/emp2.13080ParallelED—A novel screening and referral intervention using emergency department wait times to identify and address unmet social needsJohn Purakal0Gene Moon1Grace Lee2Matthew Yuan3Haripriya Dukkipati4James J. Zheng5Amitesh Verma6Susan Spratt7Janet Prvu Bettger8Department of Emergency MedicineDuke University School of MedicineDurham North Carolina USADuke UniversityDurham North Carolina USADuke UniversityDurham North Carolina USADuke UniversityDurham North Carolina USADuke UniversityDurham North Carolina USADuke UniversityDurham North Carolina USADuke UniversityDurham North Carolina USADivision of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and NutritionDuke University School of MedicineDurham North Carolina USADuke‐Margolis Center for Health PolicyDuke UniversityDurham North Carolina USAAbstract Background People arriving at the emergency department (ED) often have unmet health‐related social needs (HRSN). We implemented an intervention that used undergraduate student volunteers to screen patients in the ED waiting room (WR) for unmet social drivers of health and subsequently referred patients to community resources. Methods This cross‐sectional quality improvement study included patients who were approached to complete a HRSN screening questionnaire, subsequently referred to community resources, and followed up by phone from October 2021 to October 2022 in an ED WR of an academic medical center. Primary measures were the proportions of patients who had unmet HRSN and the proportions enrolled in a statewide database of social care resources—NCCARE360. Patient demographics and geospatial distribution were also assessed to better understand the population served. Results Our intervention reached 3297 unique patients, with 398 patients (12%) agreeing to complete screening. Of those screened, 93% were positive for at least one social need and 95% of the aforementioned were interested in receiving assistance. A total of 60% of those who screened positive were enrolled into NCCARE360. Persons identifying as female or non‐Hispanic Black were disproportionately represented at a higher rate among those who screened positive for at least one social need, with food and housing insecurity emerging as the most common referral categories. Conclusion Our results demonstrate patients’ willingness to be screened in the ED WR and a high identification of HRSN. Our findings show that idle time in the ED WR can be used to identify patients with unmet HRSN and refer them to resources.https://doi.org/10.1002/emp2.13080social emergency medicinescreeningsocial needs |
| spellingShingle | John Purakal Gene Moon Grace Lee Matthew Yuan Haripriya Dukkipati James J. Zheng Amitesh Verma Susan Spratt Janet Prvu Bettger ParallelED—A novel screening and referral intervention using emergency department wait times to identify and address unmet social needs Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians Open social emergency medicine screening social needs |
| title | ParallelED—A novel screening and referral intervention using emergency department wait times to identify and address unmet social needs |
| title_full | ParallelED—A novel screening and referral intervention using emergency department wait times to identify and address unmet social needs |
| title_fullStr | ParallelED—A novel screening and referral intervention using emergency department wait times to identify and address unmet social needs |
| title_full_unstemmed | ParallelED—A novel screening and referral intervention using emergency department wait times to identify and address unmet social needs |
| title_short | ParallelED—A novel screening and referral intervention using emergency department wait times to identify and address unmet social needs |
| title_sort | paralleled a novel screening and referral intervention using emergency department wait times to identify and address unmet social needs |
| topic | social emergency medicine screening social needs |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/emp2.13080 |
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