How does patient flow work?

Last night I look on the computer to see what patients are being triaged and roomed. We can see a list of patients that are checked in the waiting room and why they came to the ER. The note next to these patients is usually what the patient said to describe their problem, "sore throat", "knife wound", etc. If it is a major issue they are assigned a higher acuity and moved quickly into the exam room. 

Once the patient is triaged by a nurse or tech and put into an exam room, the nurses description is next to the patients name on the computer. This is usually a more accurate or descriptive explanation. The patients are assigned to one of the attending physicians and usually are up for grabs for the medical students to go and see once the patient has been prepped

At this point the patient is in the exam room and a tech will enter the room and start drawing blood, putting in an IV and some basic protocol tests will be started depending on the type of patient. For example if the patient has chest pain and EKG may be started before the doctor even gets to see the patient. 

Once the tech is done I can go and see the patient and start the work up. I will get a history and perform a physical exam. Then I will report my findings and recommendations (assessment and plan) for treatment to the attending physician. If the physician agrees we move forward with my plan or maybe a slightly modified plan per the doctors suggestions. Depending on the acuity of the patient the doctor may poke his/her head in the room and say hi or he/she may come in and repeat a history and physical or certain aspect of it to make sure we did not miss anything. 

The assessment and plan include tests, drugs, hospital / surgical plans.