Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award
Submissions open June 1st, 2019! All submissions are due by August 15th, 2019.
Innovation Categories -- Eligibility -- Evaluation Criteria -- Submission Form
The Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award is an annual competition that began in 2013, sponsored by Urgent Matters and West Health Institute, involving multi-disciplinary emergency department-based teams who have implemented a process or strategy to improve patient, clinical and operational outcomes.
Innovations should fit into at least one of the five categories listed below and must include some measureable assessment of its effectiveness in order to be eligible.
- Safety and Quality: Practices implemented to improve desired health outcomes through quality and safety practices. These innovations strive to increase safety and reduce errors for patients and are built on a culture of safety.
- Flow and Efficiency: Efforts to optimize patient flow through various operational techniques including flow improvement efforts such as Lean, Six Sigma, and Change Management. Strategies that strive to increase throughput efficiency and improve integration throughout the organization.
- Care Coordination: Practices that strive to integrate all levels of care - from pre-admission all the way through the patient's care plan. These methods streamline and organize patient care activities to facilitate the appropriate delivery of health care services.
- Patient Experience: Techniques that improve patient experience through all the different levels of patient care. These strategies deal with all touch points of people, processes, policies, communications, actions in the healthcare environment and patients' perceptions of how well these strategies are employed in the organization.
- Cost-Consciousness: Practices that aim to safely reduce the costs of acute care through improved efficiency.
1. What is the Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award?
Urgent Matters created the Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award to recognize multidisciplinary emergency department-based teams who have implemented a process or strategy to improve patient safety and flow. The innovation must include some measurable assessment of its effectiveness in order to be eligible.
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Winner: $1000, airfare and one night stay in Denver, free registration, urgent matters promotion, 30 minute speaking engagement
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First runner up: free registration, 15 minute speaking engagement, one night stay at hotel and airfare
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Second runner up: free registration, 15 minute speaking, airfare
3. Who is eligible?
Anyone working in a hospital emergency department is invited to submit an innovation on behalf of their team. Teams must have two or more types of providers in order to be considered multidisciplinary; they may be composed of physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and/or administrators.
- Clarity: The innovation/tool collection form is completely filled out, well written and logically progresses through the steps of development, implementation and evaluation.
- Multi-Disciplinary: The innovation/tool utilizes teamwork and includes different kinds of providers from across the emergency department (i.e. physicians, nurses, physician assistants, etc.) and/or other departments that work closely with the emergency department.
- Novelty: How original is the tool/innovation? Is this something completely new or an adaptation of an existing process? Is this an improvement over prior attempts?
- Exportability: The ability for this tool/innovation to be implemented across different emergency department settings. How difficult would this tool/innovation be to implement? What kind of commitment/resources/education are required to sustain this tool from the department, administration, and/or front-line staff?
- Effectiveness: How effective is the tool/innovation at solving a problem (i.e. decreasing wait times or increasing patient satisfaction)? Data/metrics that show measurable outcomes should be included.
11. Still have questions?
Email us at urgentmatters@gwu.edu and a member of our team will be happy to help.
Submission Form
See What's in the Urgent Matters Toolkit
