Innovative research offers solution to ease emergency department pressures

Six years of working in the fast-paced environment of an Emergency Department (ED) exposed Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University graduate Dr Alderson to the growing pressures on frontline teams and the challenges patients face when seeking timely, appropriate care.

“I absolutely love working in ED, the pace, the people and the impact we can make on lives. But there are increasing numbers of patients arriving who do not need emergency care. It’s putting a lot of pressure on resources and impacting the patient’s experience.”

Her passion to address the issue shaped her doctoral research, which focused on designing an innovative care pathway to better support non-urgent patients and ease ED congestion. 

Dr Alderson’s research combined qualitative and quantitative methods. She ran focus groups with healthcare professionals to explore challenges and opportunities and analysed eight years of ED data from around 625,000 patient presentations to identify trends and define the non-urgent patient group. She then refined the care pathway step by step, guided by data insights and stakeholder feedback.

“It was a huge undertaking. I’m a nurse, not a data expert, so working through that volume of information was challenging. I’m incredibly grateful for my supervisors’ guidance.”

The model Dr Alderson developed for EDs introduces nurse practitioners and patient navigators to assess, treat and guide patients to the right services. It bridges the gap between primary and secondary care, improving patient flow and ensuring people receive care in the most appropriate setting.

Dr Alderson plans to continue advocating for and refining this model while continuing her work as a Clinical Nurse Educator in an emergency department.

Her research highlights the importance of flexible, innovative solutions to meet the needs of a changing population and she is determined to see that vision realised.

A quote by renowned author and psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkola Estés that Dr Alderson included in her thesis kept her grounded through the challenges of her journey and continues to remind her that meaningful change doesn’t happen all at once.

“Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.”