Document Type
A3
Publication Date
9-5-2019
Institution/Department
Critical Care Medicine, Maine Medical Center
MeSH Headings
workflow, outpatient, urgent care center, patients, delivery of care, triage, discharge, satisfaction, quality improvement, goal, root cause analysis
Abstract
An outpatient urgent care unit was experiencing challenges in balancing the need to register patients and delivering care in the timeliest manner as possible. Upon examination, it was found that delays were being experienced in patient triage and discharge that resulted in low patient satisfaction scores.
A team of providers was established to review all process steps and a quality improvement project was created to attain a goal of 100% of the time discharge would not be delayed due to incomplete registration.
Baseline metrics demonstrated current numbers of delayed discharges, median time from door to triage as well as door to room. A root cause analysis outlined numerous workflow issues and several countermeasures were initiated.
As a result of hardwiring workflow changes, a decrease in delayed discharges as well decrease in the median time from door to triage and door to room was realized. Next steps include the creation of future countermeasures for improvement.
Recommended Citation
Fairfield, Melissa; Eells, Bailey; Collins, Faye; Cornish, Joyce; Tyzik, Stephen; Moody, Joy; Osgood, Wendy; Nayak, Suneela; Hanselman, Ruth; and Sparks, Amy, "Improving the Workflow and Partnership Between Registration and Clinical Staff in an Outpatient Urgent Care Center" (2019). Operations Transformation. 35.
https://knowledgeconnection.mainehealth.org/opex/35
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