1. Patient hand-offs between evaluating service and admitting service must be clear and direct. |
2. Responsibility and authority for the patient should be understood by all parties at any stage in the admission process. |
3. Limit the number of steps in the protocol to the minimum necessary. |
4. Interactions between the two departments must be marked by respect and professionalism. |
5. Clinical disagreements must be escalated quickly through medical ranks of both departments. |
6. Any staff member at any level must be able to alert leadership to problems; problems must be rapidly addressed. |
7. Once begun, implementation of the new process must be total and complete. |