Back to Authors

Nordland, Michelle R.

A5017524775 | I1330342723

Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic

Citations 2

Kaizen Process Improvement in Radiology: Primer for Creating a Culture of Continuous Quality Improvement

RadioGraphics | March 25, 2022 | Volume: 42 | Issue: 3 | Pages: 919-928

10.1148/rg.210086 | PMID 35333633

A discrete event simulation to evaluate impact of radiology process changes on emergency department computed tomography access

Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice | July 26, 2021 | Volume: 28 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 120-128

10.1111/jep.13606 | PMID 34309137

AbstractBackgroundHospitals face the challenge of managing demand for limited computed tomography (CT) resources from multiple patient types while ensuring timely access.MethodsA discrete event simulation model was created to evaluate CT access time for emergency department (ED) patients at a large academic medical center with six unique CT machines that serve unscheduled emergency, semi‐scheduled inpatient, and scheduled outpatient demand. Three operational interventions were tested: adding additional patient transporters, using an alternative creatinine lab, and adding a registered nurse dedicated to monitoring CT patients in the ED.ResultsAll interventions improved access times. Adding one or two transporters improved ED access times by up to 9.8 minutes (Mann‐Whitney (MW) CI: [−11.0,−8.7]) and 10.3 minutes (MW CI [−11.5, −9.2]). The alternative creatinine and RN interventions provided 3‐minute (MW CI: [−4.0, −2.0]) and 8.5‐minute (MW CI: [−9.7, −8.3]) improvements.ConclusionsAdding one transporter provided the greatest combination of reduced delay and ability to implement. The projected simulation improvements have been realized in practice.