To ensure timely access of patients to inpatient beds, and facilitate efficient processing of new patients through the emergency department.
ED admitting rights
The ED senior is responsible for deciding:
- That a patient requires admission
- The choice of inpatient team (based on patient’s primary diagnosis and each specialty’s admission criteria, see appendix).
“One way referral” rule applies for all ED referrals:
- In hours, it is the responsibility of the team receiving the initial ED referral to contact other specialty teams if the initial specialty team does not want to accept admission.
- A patient may not be referred back to ED staff for further management, discharge or referral.
The results of pending tests may not be required before making referrals. Further tests requested by the admitting team generally should not delay decision to admit or decision to transfer to the ward.
A one hour time frame exists for the referred team to make a decision regarding admission. If not completed within 1 hour, the ED senior will escalate a direct admission to the AMO.
Advanced tests (pathology, imaging) should not be requested by a specialty team prior to their own assessment of the patient.