Moving patients effectively through an Emergency Department (ED) can become a challenge for private and public hospitals. In todays health care industry, more and more physicians rely on radiology images to make a confident diagnosis on patients. As a result, radiology departments have a growing backlog of appointments in many of the services they offer.
Have you ever scheduled an imaging test? Do you know why exams are often delayed? It is very unlikely that an exam will be done shortly after (30 minutes or less) patient arrival to the hospital.
Even management may not be aware of the true delay drivers. Management may have an opinion of what the drivers are, but if not supported by data, most of the times those opinions can be misleading.
Data collection can be painful, but if obtained correctly, it is a powerful vehicle to diagnose the imaging processes, as well as any other process. Once the data has been collected and diagnosed, solutions relevant to the data may be offered and implemented through a pilot/test study.
A study was conducted at three hospitals nationwide, and the following was observed:
Evaluating and Streamlining Services
The scope of the project was defined and approved by executive leadership. The projects primary focus was to increase imaging capacity and improve patient throughput with sustainable outcomes.
Prior to the data analysis, team members had varying views on the root cause of the problem and were certain that sustainability was difficult or impossible.
The team began by gathering information through Voice of the Customer (“VoC”) analysis to assess the current issues in the process flow. The team then validated the VoC by mapping the process through a detailed process map and collecting live data on the steps and outcome of the process. This provided the team with a baseline analysis of the process outcome and root causes for delays. The leading causes for delays were as follows:
In order to address these root causes, automated reports were created for management to monitor the performance for each of the variables above. Monthly performance reviews were done among the imaging department manager, physicians, library clerk and techs. Additionally, policies and procedures were adjusted to reflect implemented changes.
After three months of monitoring and reinforcement through data, the study showed a 100% improvement in imaging testing turnaround times with a 20% impact on ED through put. And, the results were maintained by the development and integration of a technical dashboard with the key drivers identified in the project as tracking metrics.
Post Views: 869
