(Sunday, 7/29/2018) 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Room: Exhibit Hall
Purpose: The Workflow Enhancement (WE) team is comprised of representatives from each personnel group in the radiation oncology department and is designed to minimize workflow issues and decrease errors that reach the patient. In 2017 the department moved into a new cancer center and the WE team simplified reporting, tracking and solving issues related to the new center.
Methods: Members of the radiation oncology department report issues they have witnessed via a WE form. The WE team reviews forms at a bi-weekly meeting and completes an annual assessment to analyze workflow trends. Incidents reported are retrospectively divided into 12 main categories including communication, chart parameters, scheduling and patient queuing. WE forms have been collected since 2014 to present day.
Results: A total of 406 WE forms were submitted in 2017 totaling an increase of 172 from the year before. This increase in workflow issues was attributed to moving to a new cancer center. Two categories of concern were communication and patient queuing which were up 193% and 178% from the previous year. The new building had a new layout, new patient tracking technology, and new pathways of communication. An additional receptionist was hired, staff were trained for a new check in process, and a receptionist was moved to the nursing station to assist with in-patients. After this change a decrease of about 63% WE forms related to queuing and communication were submitted in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Conclusion: Workflow issues attributable to a departmental move to a new cancer center increased by an average of 98 incidents from the previous 3 years with areas of weakness including communication and patient queuing. Having these areas highlighted by the WE team allowed them to be quickly resolved.
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