REDUCING PATIENT WAIT TIMES
Reducing Patient Wait Times is a program area that transforms old, fragmented work processes into streamlined systems where patients feel that their time is valued, their needs are respected, and their health is the top priority.
To date, PCDC has partnered with Coleman Associates,
a premier organization in healthcare process design, to deliver a highly successful program. The Learning Collaborative is designed to combat some important and widespread problems that discourage patients and limit productivity. Overcrowded waiting rooms, bottlenecks at the front desk, patients shuttled from stop to stop, poor communication, and chaotic systems all make patients feel lost and isolated.
Coleman Associates' Patient Visit
RedesignTM is a six- to eight-month program that fundamentally improves the experience for staff, patients, and the health center or hospital clinic as an organization.
Patients benefit from:
- Decreased cycle time (measured by the number of minutes from patient arrival to departure) in which patients usually fully complete their visit within 45 to 60 minutes, while spending no less time with their healthcare provider; and
- Fewer handoffs (the number of times a patient is sent from one staff person to the next)—typically reduced from 8-10 to 3-4.
Staff develops:
- A patient-centered attitude in which the patient's needs and the quality of the patient experience become a focus;
- Heightened morale, thanks to increased productivity and efficiency, mutual respect between clinical and clerical staff, and a sense of work well done;
- A stronger sense of teamwork as they work together to achieve shared goals; and
- Commitment to communication, with all staff routinely informed of center progress and given opportunities to provide input on procedures.
The health center/hospital:
- Becomes more productive, able to handle more patient visits per hour; and
- Has more satisfied staff and patients.
The Process
With input from the project team, the leadership of the center or department selects a five- to seven-member multidisciplinary team, comprised of staff members who are creative and innovative thinkers and who have mastered the knowledge and skills necessary for day-to-day clinic operation.
The team collects baseline information on cycle time and productivity and observes, tracks and analyzes a number of patient visits at the center. The team then attends a Learning Session, where they learn about redesign methodology, high-performance team principles and behaviors, and techniques for overcoming resistance to change. Team members map the redesign on paper.
Following the Learning Session, the team meets once or twice per week for intensive work sessions. The teams test their redesigned visit models, continuing until staff agrees on the model and has collected objective data to confirm the model's success. The following Learning Sessions and Action Periods bring the teams through the process of finalizing their model, analyzing its impact on center operations, obtaining leadership approval, and effecting final implementation.
Highly qualified coaches make site visits to provide coaching, offer feedback, and assist team members and staff with implementation. The Learning Collaborative process facilitates an exchange of ideas and information among health centers participating in redesign programs through its interactive redesign listserv.
CLIENT TESTIMONIES
"This redesign exercise made us put the patient at the heart of all our decisions and additionally aligns with our institution's goal of improving our patient satisfaction. Working in an academic medical center has presented some challenges because providing an environment that is condusive to excellent teaching does not always align with faster visits. However, we have been able to eliminate much of the wait time patients experienced that occurred pre- and post-visiting with the provider."
Brian Hale, Director, Ambulatory Care Network
New York-Presbyterian Hospital
