Assessment Details
Academic Year: 2020-2021 Level: Both Undergraduate and Graduate
Campus Department: Student Affairs [UG and Grad]
Program Type: Co-Curricular Program [UG and Grad]
Program Name: Emergency Coverage System
Description of Data Collection:
Careful records are kept on numbers of emergencies, times and length of occurance, presenting problems and outcomes.
Review Process:
Data collection and analysis is coordinated by the Associate Director of Clinical Services.
Resulting Program Changes:
The Emergency Coverage System is a major responsibility of UCS. The numbers of emergency contacts and hospitalizations have increased dramatically in recent years. As a result of our data analyses of this service we have instituted a triage system to put students in contact with a clinician earlier in the process; offered same day consultation meetings to students to prevent an issue from necessarily becoming a critical emergency by addressing an urgent issue; worked with the nursing staff in our infirmary to help them screen requests that are less than true emergencies; we have developed and delivered training modules for faculty and others to enable them to identify and manage students in crisis; we have hired additional clinicians to provide emergency coverage on weekends. Over the last two years, we have instituted a back up system during staff’s emergency shifts so that there are always two clinicians on during the day to cover emergencies adequately and this year we have shifted to an 8 hour day shift from our traditional four hour shift to enhance continuity and communication and decrease transitional issues between shifts. Finally, as emergencies have increased we are in the process of seeking a specialized emergency service which will provide greater expertise and access to emergency clinical care in the evenings as well as weekends and improve our capacity to retain clinicians. UCS receives frequent feedback from students and colleagues about what works and does not work with our Emergency Coverage System. The number of emergency contacts have increased, which we understand as the result of an increased familiarity with our system. The severity and clinical appropriateness of ECS contacts have also on average increased, which we understand to indicate that the less emergent clinical cases are being correctly routed through our triage system into standard clinical care. This year we have also begun rating each emergency contact for level of complexity and acuity which will provide increased valuable data.
Date of Most Recent Program Review:
The Emergency Coverage System is a major responsibility of UCS. The numbers of emergency contacts and hospitalizations have increased dramatically in recent years. As a result of our data analyses of this service we have instituted a triage system to put students in contact with a clinician earlier in the process; offered same day consultation meetings to students to prevent an issue from necessarily becoming a critical emergency by addressing an urgent issue; worked with the nursing staff in our infirmary to help them screen requests that are less than true emergencies; we have developed and delivered training modules for faculty and others to enable them to identify and manage students in crisis; we have hired additional clinicians to provide emergency coverage on weekends. Over the last two years, we have instituted a back up system during staff’s emergency shifts so that there are always two clinicians on during the day to cover emergencies adequately and this year we have shifted to an 8 hour day shift from our traditional four hour shift to enhance continuity and communication and decrease transitional issues between shifts. Finally, as emergencies have increased we are in the process of seeking a specialized emergency service which will provide greater expertise and access to emergency clinical care in the evenings as well as weekends and improve our capacity to retain clinicians. UCS receives frequent feedback from students and colleagues about what works and does not work with our Emergency Coverage System. The number of emergency contacts have increased, which we understand as the result of an increased familiarity with our system. The severity and clinical appropriateness of ECS contacts have also on average increased, which we understand to indicate that the less emergent clinical cases are being correctly routed through our triage system into standard clinical care. This year we have also begun rating each emergency contact for level of complexity and acuity which will provide increased valuable data.
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