There have been significant increases in emergency room visits across the US and delays in the ED leads to poor outcomes.  There is an association between waiting times and short term mortality and hospital admission.  Laboratory turnaround time can impact ED operations and, based on simulation modeling, the best performance is predicted when the TAT is 40 minutes or less.   The needs of every ED are different and this presentation will look at the impact of Point of Care testing on the provision of medical care and ED operations in three clinical conditions: chest pain (cardiac), sepsis (critical care) and infectious diseases.   

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the association between ED waiting times and short term mortality and hospital admissions.
• Describe the operational benefits that can be achieved with a rapid chest pain disposition protocol.
• Understand the role of lactate in the identification and monitoring of sepsis.
• Explain the impact on key ED operational metrics of rapid infectious disease testing.