Hospitals counter ER crowding with ‘bed czars’ and ‘zoomer nurses’

From the Union-Tribune:

So far, Mells said, the new unit appears to be working. The amount of time that patients are  spending in the ER, he said, has already dropped from an average of 350 minutes to 270 minutes. Plans are in the works to significantly expand the vertical treatment area, removing 10 ER beds and staffing up additional nurses and other workers to handle the 50 percent of visits that come into the emergency room but are not considered high risk. Plans are also in the works to create a new “zoomer nurse” position. Like Grossmont’s bed czar, this worker will move from patient to patient clearing any obstacles to departing the hospital once a doctor has approved their discharge.