Defining and Measuring Successful Emergency Care Networks: A Research Agenda

• Published in: Academic emergency medicine 2010-12, Vol.17 (12), p.1297-1305
• Main Authors: Glickman, Seth W., Kit Delgado, M., Hirshon, Jon Mark, Hollander, Judd E., Iwashyna, Theodore J., Jacobs, Alice K., Kilaru, Austin S., Lorch, Scott A., Mutter, Ryan L., Myers, Sage R., Owens, Pamela L., Phelan, Michael P., Pines, Jesse M., Seymour, Christopher W., Ewen Wang, N., Branas, Charles C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Best practice; Catchment Area (Health); Cooperative Behavior; Databases, Factual; Emergency medical care; Emergency Medical Services - organization & administration; Health Priorities; Health Services Accessibility; Humans; Interinstitutional Relations; Medical Record Linkage; Quality of care; United States
• ISSN: 1069-6563; 1553-2712
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1553-2712.2010.00930.x

The demands on emergency services have grown relentlessly, and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) has asserted the need for “regionalized, coordinated, and accountable emergency care systems throughout the country.” There are large gaps in the evidence base needed to fix the problem of how emergency care is organized and delivered, and science is urgently needed to define and measure success in the emerging network of emergency care. In 2010, Academic Emergency Medicine convened a consensus conference entitled “Beyond Regionalization: Integrated Networks of Emergency Care.” This article is a product of the conference breakout session on “Defining and Measuring Successful Networks”; it explores the concept of integrated emergency care delivery and prioritizes a research agenda for how to best define and measure successful networks of emergency care. The authors discuss five key areas: 1) the fundamental metrics that are needed to measure networks across time‐sensitive and non–time‐sensitive conditions; 2) how networks can be scalable and nimble and can be creative in terms of best practices; 3) the potential unintended consequences of networks of emergency care; 4) the development of large‐scale, yet feasible, network data systems; and 5) the linkage of data systems across the disease course. These knowledge gaps must be filled to improve the quality and efficiency of emergency care and to fulfill the IOM’s vision of regionalized, coordinated, and accountable emergency care systems. ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2010; 17:1297–1305 © 2010 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine