2020, waiting times at ABC hospital’s new emergency department (ED) were high, reflected in the number of patients who chose to leave without being seen. Patient satisfaction scores were in the single digits, and the new facility had done little to change the community’s opinion of the service. Internally, other departments were quick to criticize the ED and its staff. A major area of dissatisfaction was with pediatric patients. “We knew we had to make some changes,” says the head of the department of emergency medicine. “We were seeing higher volume, but as volume rose, our patient satisfaction scores decreased. We started at the top to identify the issues, and what we found was that the processes in need of change began at the front door. Patients were experiencing long wait times. Evaluating the processes identified that the most significant influences on wait times were directing ED traffic and moving patients through the triage process.” A Strategic Quality Improvement (QI) team was formed to include heads of marketing, quality, operations, and other parts of the organization that touched on the patient’s ED experience. Studies were conducted of ancillary services that could lead to lower ED scores, such as lab and radiology turnaround times. The team revisited ED treatment protocols that guided how physicians and nurses responded to clinical needs. If you were one of the team members of the Strategic QI Team, What quality improvements do you suggest be done at the emergency department so that the patient satisfaction improves? Whom do you fix the responsibility of “quality of care” at the hospital
Breakeven Analysis
Break Even Analysis is a term used in business, cost accounting and economics. It refers to a point where the total cost incurred becomes equal to the total revenue earned. Break Even Analysis determines the number of units to be sold to earn the revenue required to cover the total costs. Total cost is a sum total of fixed and variable costs.
Process analysis
The term process analysis can be defined as breakdown of production process into different phases that converts inputs into output. A series of routine activities are incorporated using organizational resources with a view to achieve operational excellence.
n 2020, waiting times at ABC hospital’s new emergency department (ED) were high, reflected in the number of patients who chose to leave without being seen. Patient satisfaction scores were in the single digits, and the new facility had done little to change the community’s opinion of the service. Internally, other departments were quick to criticize the ED and its staff. A major area of dissatisfaction was with pediatric patients. “We knew we had to make some changes,” says the head of the department of emergency medicine. “We were seeing higher volume, but as volume rose, our patient satisfaction scores decreased. We started at the top to identify the issues, and what we found was that the processes in need of change began at the front door. Patients were experiencing long wait times. Evaluating the processes identified that the most significant influences on wait times were directing ED traffic and moving patients through the triage process.” A Strategic Quality Improvement (QI) team was formed to include heads of marketing, quality, operations, and other parts of the organization that touched on the patient’s ED experience. Studies were conducted of ancillary services that could lead to lower ED scores, such as lab and radiology turnaround times. The team revisited ED treatment protocols that guided how physicians and nurses responded to clinical needs.
If you were one of the team members of the Strategic QI Team,
What quality improvements do you suggest be done at the emergency department so that the patient satisfaction improves?
Whom do you fix the responsibility of “quality of care” at the hospital
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