Development and Implementation of a New Process to Improve Safety of Urgent Direct Admissions

Implementation of a standardized UDA process improved patient safety and efficiency by increasing UDA use and reducing ICU transfers. Key components of the process included the following: clinical criteria for UDA, an electronic health record order including clinical decision support, automatic notification to admissions management, streamlined communication across the patient placement department, the referring clinician, and the family, and a quality metrics dashboard.