The Emergency Department (ED) drives the efficiency of the remainder of a hospital's service, perhaps more than any other hospital care unit except the operating room. In this book, Dr. Vukmir defines both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of Emergency Department (ED) practice. Vukmir outlines the efficacy of 'best circumstance' operation, the effectiveness or 'real world' performance, and the efficiency or work product based on resources utilized. Through the benchmarking process, he attempts to 'objectify' the care provided by physicians, midlevels, nurses, and ancillary care providers. The more subtle aspects of ED operations and its interface with other hospital departments are also reviewed. This text is subdivided operationally into distinct, yet still integrated, working units such as patient intake, registration, testing, and data processing, as well as the admission, consultation, and discharge processes. Potential solutions are offered to common issues of ED staffing, operational, performance improvement, and risk management.