You'll see an emergency department doctor within five minutes under a new "warp-speed" system at Windsor Regional Hospital that eliminates the waiting room, the hospital's president and chief executive officer said Tuesday.

SEQUENTIAL PLAN': Dr. Rob Woodall is Windsor Hospital's emergency chief of staff. He says a new approach to handling patients will be part of an overall revamp in the ER

The innovation should be implemented within six to nine months. Speaking at a Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland meeting, David Musyj said the new system, devised by Dr. Robert Woodall, head of the hospital's emergency department, changes the current system in which a triage nurse immediately assesses a patient, who then must often wait a long time to get in to see a physician. "In fact, the first person a patient sees will be a physician, not a nurse," Musyj said of the new system. "For some, that initial consultation may result in a prescription being written or treatments suggested and the patient is on their way. "For others, they will be admitted directly into the body of the emergency department for further tests, diagnostics and treatment. Not only will this eliminate those frustrating wait times but we are also physically eliminating our waiting room.

The new system is dubbed "warp-speed," said Woodall, and it's part of an overall revamp that will enable the ER to see patients in a timely fashion.

"They come to an emergency department to be seen and to have their concerns alleviated, they don't come here to sit in a chair," Woodall said.

He said the plan is to change the way emergency medicine is delivered.

"It's a sequential plan which ends with a change in the way patients are treated on the front lines, but it's also a process that can't be implemented until the rest of the plan is in place," he said.

Woodall said the plan includes eliminating wasteful practices and duplication of services, renovating and changing the layout of the department to facilitate more efficient patient care and introducing a system of electronic medical record keeping so that tests and X-rays can be ordered directly without being passed through three or four hands.

Woodall said "our processes haven't changed for years and we need to implement a process that enables us to see patients in a timely fashion.

Facing a 10 per cent annual increase in ER visits at Windsor Regional, Musyj said that doing nothing was not an option.

"We need our physicians to see patients and see them faster because the demand for those services won't decrease," he said.

Musyj acknowledged patients will still have to wait within the body of the emergency department but "at least they will know what they're waiting for and they will already have been seen by a doctor at this point in their treatment."

Musyj said that not every emergency room patient needs a bed and some will be assigned to reclining chairs while they're waiting for followup treatments and completion of tests.

The hospital currently has more than a dozen full-time equivalent physicians working on various shifts in the emergency department and the new system can be implemented with the addition of two additional physicians, Musyj said.

He said the system is new and innovative and currently not being used anywhere else, so far as he knows. "And I believe the very innovative nature of it will attract more physicians willing to work in an emergency department environment."

Renovations to the emergency department will begin soon and Musyj expects the new system to be in place by the end of the year.

In addition to introducing this new system, the hospital is also embarking on a new zero-based budget process designed to trim costs where possible and provide services more efficiently.

Musyj said the hospital's costs are increasing by 10 and 12 per cent annually, but the annual increase in funding from the province for this year is 2.25 per cent. And next year it will be 1.95 per cent.

"When funding does not keep up with inflation and increases in spending, it's problematic," Musyj said. "But after we've gone through this process, we can approach the province and tell them what we've done and this is what we need. We can't just keep putting our hands out, we have to be proactive."

dhall@thestar.canwest.com or 519-255-5777, ext. 408.