Abstract
Background: The waiting time (WT) for a phlebotomy is directly related to patient satisfaction with a health service. However, the processing time varies widely depending on the type of patients. Monitoring of the WT alone may not enable an effective evaluation of the lean performance of the medical staff for patients with different characteristics. The objective of this study was to use process cycle efficiency (PCE) to assess the performance of an intelligent tube preparation system (ITPS) which automatically labeled test tubes and conducted patient rerouting for phlebotomy services, and to interpret the WT during peak hours. Methods: Three time periods were used. The baseline period was from 1 July to 31 July 2014. Phase 1 was after the establishment of the ITPS, with patients ≥80 years old being rerouted. In phase 2, patients ≥78 years old were rerouted. Those data were recorded with a calling system and ITPS, respectively. Results: PCE was significantly improved from 12.9% at baseline to 51.1% (p < 0.001) in phase 1 and 53.0% (p < 0.001) in phase 2. The WT of 16.9 min at baseline was reduced to 3.8 min in phase 1 (p < 0.001), and 3.6 min in phase 2 (p < 0.001). Moreover, the results showed that a WT < 10 min was consistent with a PCE ≥ 25%. Conclusions: Establishing an ITPS for phlebotomy can significantly increase PCE and shorten the WT. Furthermore, the PCE ≥ 25% could be a good assessment reference for the management of appropriate human resources for phlebotomy services, although it is a complex parameter.
Highlights
The waiting time (WT) for a phlebotomy is related to patient satisfaction and the quality of service
Many methods have been proposed to effectively improve phlebotomy services, including the effective use of human resources, information systems, and lean management, that we have reported in the introduction
In contrast to WT, process cycle efficiency (PCE) is a lean indicator of the amount of value-added time in a process for value stream map (VSM) [23]. We considered both the processing time and the WT for different patient groups, and this approach may be valuable for assessing phlebotomy services
Summary
A phlebotomy area is where samples of patients’ blood are collected and tested in a hospital to assess their health. These tests are related to the diagnosis or follow-up of patients with many types of disorders, and many different patients can require a blood test at any given time. The waiting time (WT) for a phlebotomy is directly related to patient satisfaction with a health service. The objective of this study was to use process cycle efficiency (PCE) to assess the performance of an intelligent tube preparation system (ITPS) which automatically labeled test tubes and conducted patient rerouting for phlebotomy services, and to interpret the WT during peak hours.
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