The observational study, published Feb. 5 in Academic Emergency Medicine, analyzed walkout rates from an academic emergency department in the Midwestern U.S. with approximately 60,000 annual visits between April and December 2022. Overall, 9,798 patients visited the ED when a guest service ambassador was working.
Guest service ambassadors, who serve in nonclinical staff roles, were trained to guide patients through check-in, provide updates and manage expectations around wait times. They initially worked for four hours a day during a two-month period, and that was later expanded to 8.5 hours per day at peak patient arrival times.
Three things to know:
1. Guest service ambassadors were associated with a reduction in patients who left without being seen, going from 3.4% to 2.0%.
2. Patients from minority racial groups, including Black, Indigenous and other non-white groups, had a greater reduction in walkouts with a 1.8% decrease, compared to a 1.2% decrease for white patients.
3. Women had a greater reduction in walkout rates, with a 1.7% reduction, compared to men, with a 1% reduction.
“Although some disparities remain, our study suggests that guest service ambassadors may provide an effective strategy to reduce the overall left without being seen rate and reduce disparities across diverse demographic groups including BIPOC and female patients,” the study authors wrote.
