ATLANTA — Sarah Oleksinski woke up in an ambulance.
The 19-year-old had just crashed into a tree, breaking her femur in three places. The EMS workers rushed her to Grady Memorial Hospital for emergency care.
“I thought I was going to be seen immediately, helped immediately,” Oleksinski told Channel 2’s Michael Doudna.
However, when she arrived, she says she waited for more than an hour at the hospital with the ambulance team that brought her, waiting to be passed into the hospital’s care.
“I couldn’t even walk, you know. I had lain there. Like, it’s the most helpless feeling in the world,” Oleksinski said.
What she experienced was a long ambulance patient offload time, also known as a wall time.
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Georgia’s Department of Public Health says the goal for hospital wait times should be 20 minutes in 90% of cases. However, state data shows not a single Atlanta metro hospital met that standard.
“It’s not just a hospital issue, it is not just an EMS issue, this is a complete health care issue and crisis,” Chad Black, Georgia EMS Association Board Chairman, said.
Georgia EMS Association chairman Chad Black says understaffing and an overuse of 911 for non-emergency calls are the main culprits behind the high wall times. He says those two factors can overwhelm a system, causing ambulances to get stuck at hospitals and for emergency calls to stack up.
“Those 911 calls don’t stop. They continue to come in. And when there are no trucks available to run them, then that’s where your delays come in,” Black said.
Black says long wall times can create a domino effect. It leads to fewer ambulances being able to respond to new 911 calls and can put them out of position. The end result can lead to longer response times on life-and-death calls.
“It happens every day, and yes, there’s no doubt in my mind. Lives have been lost because of this,” Black said.
Black believes more must be done to educate the public on when to call 911 for an emergency and when to go to another healthcare option. He says many systems are exploring alternatives to reduce the load on the ambulance system.
“There are alternatives, there are nurse lines, there are telemedicine, there are mobile integrated health systems,” Black said.
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SO HOW IS THE METRO DOING?
According to data published by the Department of Public Health, Metro Atlanta Hospitals had a wall time of 20 minutes or less only 44% of the time.
The chart shows the number for each hospital in Region 3, including the type of facility, how often it had a patient offload time of 20 minutes or less, and what their offload time was in at least 90% of cases.
Here’s how are the healthcare systems doing and what are they doing to improve:
Grady Hospital
The busiest hospital by EMS volume between January and March of this year was Grady. DPH found that offload times were 20 minutes or less in 23% of cases, with a 90th percentile of 58 minutes.
In a statement, a Grady spokesperson said, “We are actively working with our EMS partners and implementing operational improvements focused on accelerating patient assessment, improving care coordination, and reducing ambulance offload times so EMS teams can return to service as quickly as possible. These emergency department capacity and EMS offload challenges are being experienced by healthcare systems nationwide and are not unique to Atlanta or Grady.
Most importantly, every patient arriving at Grady is promptly triaged, with serious or emergent cases taken back immediately, and all patients receive immediate clinical attention and ongoing monitoring while awaiting placement in the emergency department. We deeply value our EMS partners and remain committed to delivering safe, high-quality care for the communities we serve.”
Emory Healthcare
Emory University Hospital had the lowest 90th percentile offload time at 82 minutes, with only 28% of offloads occurring within 20 minutes.
In an email, Emory said:
Emory Healthcare is aware of the nationwide challenges to address ambulance patient offload times at emergency departments (EDs). Because of high volumes of patients throughout EDs across our system, Emory Healthcare has implemented new processes to more efficiently assess patients soon after EMS arrival. An initiative involving a receiving team, developed by ED staff at Emory Decatur Hospital and Emory Hillandale Hospital, is helping to decrease wall times across the system.
Additionally, Emory Healthcare’s Capacity Command Center analyzes data in real-time to help load-balance patients across the system. As we review and refine our system approaches, we will continue to provide compassionate and innovative patient care to those who visit our facilities.
WellStar
WellStar Kennestone was the second busiest hospital by volume. DPH data says Kennestone had an offload time of 20 minutes or less 64 percent of the time. In 90% of cases, patients were transferred to the hospital’s care within 35 minutes.
In a statement, WellStar said: At Wellstar, we work closely with our EMS partners to reduce the time it takes to triage patients who are brought to our emergency departments in an ambulance and quickly release the EMS staff so they can respond to other emergencies. We consistently meet or exceed the state goals for how quickly emergency department patients are admitted for care.”
Northside Hospital
Northside Hospital operates three facilities in Region 3. According to the data, they met the offload goal between 61 and 81 percent of the time. In 90% of cases, their offload time ranged from 27 to 38 minutes, depending on the facility. Northside did not respond to a request for comment on how they plan to improve times.
Piedmont Hospital
Piedmont had four facilities in Region 3. The largest Piedmont hospital, Piedmont Atlanta, met the offload goal 30% of the time and had a 90th percentile time of 50 minutes.
Piedmont also did not respond to a request for comment.