Table 1.

Characteristics of study-site institutions and the sickle cell populations they serve.

Characteristic	Site 1	Site 2
Sickle cell disease (SCD) Specialist care	Comprehensive SCD Center with hematologist outpatient services and inpatient care	Comprehensive SCD Center with hematologist outpatient services and inpatient care
Adult ED volume	66,000 visits, year 2014	78,000 visits, year 2014
Inpatient beds, year 2014	919 beds	885 beds
Day hospital hours of operation for sickle cell patients with VOC	8 Hours, 9 to 5 PM, weekdays only.	8 hours, 9 AM to 5 PM, weekdays only
ED observation unit care for patients with SCD VOC	ED Observation unit in place, dedicated observation protocol for treatment of uncomplicated VOC	ED Observation unit in place; however, no dedicated VOC observation protocol in place
Patient specific treatment plans for pain control	In place at time of study initiation	Established during first 6 months 30-month study period
Patient controlled analgesia (PCA)	PCA protocol available in the ED	No PCA use in the ED
Regular sickle cell clinic patients	500 patients	195 patients
SCD Clinic patients with no hospitalizations, ED Visits, or day hospital visits over 2.5 years	203 patients, 40.6%	65 patients, 33.3%

ED, emergency department; VOC, vaso-occlusive crisis.