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Lab Team Pokes at Processes and Gets Results
  • Documenting and tracking the time to complete each step in the process  
  • Identifying workflow bottlenecks
  • Reviewing staffing and tweaking schedules

What can your team do to examine and improve your workflow? How do you think that would affect care and service for our member and patients?

Laureen Lazarovici Tue, 07/30/2019 - 14:32
Courtesy Calls Resonate With Ultrasound Patients
  • Reviewing upcoming ultrasound appointments to schedule reminder calls
  • Dividing call duties among different assigned staffers to ensure privacy
  • Calling a day in advance of appointments to discuss patient instructions

What can your team do to reach out to patients? And how could your team work with other teams to improve service? 

 

scarrpm Thu, 12/29/2016 - 14:26
Go on Point to Reduce Missing Lab Orders
  • Assigning a point person to work with physicians and departments to ensure patients have the needed lab orders
  • Coordinating efforts across the multiple departments that engage in a patient's treatment
  • Assigning a backup assistant to ensure the point duties are covered

What can your team do to identify where things "fall through the cracks"? What else could your team do to put the patient at the center? 

 

scarrpm Thu, 12/29/2016 - 13:11

Dressing Room Reduces X-Ray Wait Times

  • Assessing the problem and working together to a solution
  • Converting extra closet space into a dressing room for patients
  • Realizing even small solutions pay large dividends

 What can your team do to use your physical space more efficiently? 

Creative Thinking Makes a Faster Lab

  • Opening the lab a half-hour earlier to prevent long lines at the open of business
  • Shifting work schedules and staggering lunch hours to have more staff covering available time
  • Cross-training staff to register patients, process specimens and draw blood

 What can your team do to improve its workflow? 

 

Going One on One Improves Satisfaction Scores
  • Identifying the problem of lab wait times and its root causes
  • Employing a "one-on-one" style of service so more staffers help reduce the queue
  • Having lab technicians handle patients from check-in to blood draw

 What can your team do to find out the root cause of a nagging problem?

scarrpm Mon, 12/19/2016 - 17:06
Early Shift Ensures On-Time Labs
  • Having lab assistants, not runners, pick up blood samples at 6 a.m. and drop off specimens every half-hour
  • Using clinical lab scientists from other departments to help process blood in the morning
  • Moving weekend shifts for clinical lab scientists to 6 a.m. instead of 9 a.m.

 What can your team do to shift its workflow for the benefit of patients? 

scarrpm Mon, 12/19/2016 - 15:29

Front-of-the-Line Pass Reduces Unneeded Tests

  • Identifying which tests oncology patients actually need
  • Creating and issuing a "golden ticket" to get patients to the front of the line
  • Fast tracking the processing of labs before seeing the doctor

What can your team do to adjust your workflow in a way that puts the patient at the center?

 

Make Shorter Lines a Team Effort

  • Communicating with the customer
  • Addressing the customers’ complaints
  • Getting the entire team involved in making an effort to improve customer service

What can your team do to listen to and address feedback from patients and members?

Speedy Slides Boost Service, Scores and Morale

  • Tracking slide turnaround times on a white board
  • Discussing turnaround times and quality assurance issues in team huddles
  • Meeting weekly with the UBT’s sponsors to help with engagement and remove barriers
  • Including pathologists to facilitate better communication between staff and physicians

What can your team do to remove barriers in your daily work? What else could your team do to use huddles to improve quality? 

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