Authors (including presenting author) :
CHAN NS(1), LING SO(1), MOK T(1), NG PK(1), MA O(1), LING WP(1), MOK YF(1), SO HW(1), CHEUNG WY(1), CHUNG CY(1), TSE KW(1), WONG SW(1), LEE SK(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Respiratory Medicine, Kowloon Hospital
Introduction :
The Specialist Out-patient Clinic (SOPC) of Department of Respiratory Medicine (RMD) in Kowloon Hospital provides respiratory specialist consultations for clients suffering from a variety of chest diseases. Nurses have to check the out-patient medical records (OPMRs) before patient follow-up. Repeated checking is frequently required. The redundant job processes in handling of the OPMRs much increased staff workload. In this regard, the current workflow was revisited by using WISER approach. A new workflow was developed and implemented from October 2018 onwards.
Objectives :
To streamline the workflow on handling of out-patient records so as to save man hours in handling the OPMRs in SOPC
Methodology :
Around 600 OPMRs are stored in SOPC per week for checking before patient follow up. Nurses are required to check repeatedly on 1) availability of investigations reports 2) adequacy of SOPC labels and 3) scheduled investigations appointment to be performed on date of follow-up. In August 2018, one-week data of the time required for checking the OPMRs by nurses was obtained. Medical Record Handling Reminder and print label reminder were designed and implemented in Oct 2018 and Jan 2019 respectively. The reminder(s) is/are to be placed in the front page of the OPMR after patient consultation. The outstanding issue was clearly identified by using the reminder. Clerical staff will print labels automatically before sending out the OPMR(s). In May 2019, another one-week data was collected for comparison. Staff feedback was collected via satisfaction survey.
Result & Outcome :
In August 2018, average checking time of each OPMR was 2.12 minutes. After revising the workflow, average checking time was reduced to 1.76 minutes per OPMR. Compared with the first data, the time spent on checking OPMR was significantly diminished by 17%. No case was required to reprint labels during checking before follow up. All SOPC staff were satisfied with the change of workflow.
In Conclusion, a small step of change can bring a fruitful outcome. Re-engineering the handling processes of OPMRs eliminates repeated job processes in RMD SOPC. As a result, the man hours in handling OPMRs are saved after implementation of this WISER project.
