01894nas a2200181   4500000000100000008004100001100001300042700001700055700002000072700002100092700001800113700001700131245013400148300001200282490000700294520139700301022001401698       2017                            d1 aIvers R.1 aBein Kendall1 aRussell Saartje1 aMuscatello David1 aChalkley Dane1 aDinh Michael00aFeeling the HEAT: Using Hourly Emergency Activity Tracking to demonstrate a novel method of describing activity and patient flow.  a173-1770 v293 a<p>
<b>OBJECTIVE: </b>The objective of the present study is to demonstrate a novel method of mapping ED activity to analyse patterns presentations, occupancy and performance trends.
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<b>METHODS: </b>This was a retrospective, descriptive analysis of de-identified and linked ED presentations across NSW, Australia, over five calendar years, 2010-2014. It was undertaken as part of the Demand for Emergency Services Trend in Years 2010-2014 (DESTINY) study. The DESTINY project analysed 10.8 million presentations during 2010-2014. Hourly Emergency Activity Tracking (HEAT) maps were generated to visually represent and analyse the number of emergency arrivals to ED occupancy and proportion of patients leaving the ED within 4 h per hour of day across consecutive months of the year.
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<b>RESULTS: </b>HEAT maps provided a means of visually representing ED activity to demonstrate hour-to-hour trends in presentations, occupancy and performance between 2010 and 2014. This analysis has shown that the most marked increase in presentations per hour has occurred during the 10.00-14.00 hour period, associated with an improvement in ED performance during the same period.
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<b>CONCLUSION: </b>HEAT maps may be used to facilitate further analyses of ED demand, patterns of patient presentations and patient flow and future health system redesign.
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