Utilizing Process and Preparation in Creating a New Healthcare Facility
Client: A not-for-profit hospital & healthcare network located in the central part of the United States
Industry: Healthcare
Service: 2P (Process and Preparation)
Challenge:
- Looking to optimize its work and patient flow throughout the organization
- Significant challenges existed in improving patient clinical outcomes and overall patient satisfaction
Solutions:
- Began creating a new way of “processing” their patient flow via an assessment of the organization’s current state
- Captured various times including test, admission and wait times and created current state maps
- Creation of the new workflow and Standard of Work
- Analysis of equipment needs and placement
Results:
- Improvement in the overall number of steps in the admission process from 111 to 46 steps
- Patient experience was improved by the reduction of overall steps from 26 to 4
- Time to admit was reduced by 14%
- Time between arrival and seeing a physician was reduced from 27 minutes to less than 3 in one pilot
The team at this facility was challenged with “Redefining the Healthcare Experience” and charged with designing the “best patient centered” Emergency Services process for the facility. The key challenge was “creating” a new hospital during a 12-week process that began with a current state assessment.
The focus of the group included a number of key drivers including:
- Patients knowing where they are and being involved in decisions regarding pending next steps during their stay
- No variation in the quality of care with regard to caregiver or time of day
- Elimination or minimization of patient wait time as well as wait time for Emergency Services team members
- Minimization of entry to patient contact by physician with a special focus on critical diagnosis such as stroke, CAP and STEMI
- Improved overall staff satisfaction by decreasing non-valued activities
- Increased physician satisfaction by decreasing doctor wait time thus allowing for faster treatment time
- The team learned about the current state of processes through interviews, process mapping, data analysis, benchmarking and by analyzing the current care delivery methods. That analysis revealed that the staff spends only 30% of their time at the patient bedside.
While creating the current state map, the team was able to identify the non-value added steps, understand work-arounds that had been created over the years and began to see opportunities for the future state.
With a focus on elements that were “critical to quality” (CTQ) in the redesign process, the future state began to be mapped.
For the new process to function as desired, three strategies (CTQs) were identified and included:
- Physician triage
- Streamlined admission flow process
- Service Level Agreements for physician “call back”
The immediate focus of this engagement was on the pending new facility. The exercise evolved into a best practice sharing opportunity with many of the improvements/changes being earmarked for a sister facility as well as the main focus of the engagement. The learning’s were implemented within a month of engagement closure and provided the opportunity for immediate improved service, care and financial results to the overall healthcare network.
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