This session will explore one organization’s implementation of an ED observation unit in a tertiary setting. The speakers will discuss the factors that prompted the organization to evaluate developing such a unit, and share the unit’s successes in providing safe care transitions. The speakers will also share valuable tools to augment dispositional decision making and present outcomes to date.

Learning Objectives:
1. Discuss the importance of an emergency department observational unit

2. Define the critical thinking steps needed to initiate a patient’s plan of care

3. Identify alternative settings (levels of care) for emergency department observation unit discharge

4. List positive outcomes of a successful ED observation unit