S1485 Increasing Inpatient Endoscopy Volumes Using the Model for Continuous Improvement

Abstract

Introduction: Inpatient endoscopy volumes can affect patient care at many levels in a hospital system. At our academic center, inpatient procedural volume efficiency is 65% (defined as the number of completed procedures compared during the designated in-patient endoscopy time period). As a consequence, excess procedures are being completed on-call or on weekends. Our aim was to increase procedural volume by one (14%) additional procedure completed/day over a 12-month period. Methods: An interprofessional team of Gastroenterology fellows and staff along with endoscopy nurses and managers was created to investigate throughput concerns. Baseline data was collected via direct observation and completion of a time study over 2 months. Subsequently, a process flow diagram was completed. A combination of root cause analysis tools (ie, Ishikawa diagram and Pareto chart) were then utilized to identify areas for improvement. A delay in procedural start time was identified as a strong culprit for reduced efficiency. Potential PDSA (plan-do-study-act) cycles included: early physician handover start time, constructing a standardized patient procedure list, and improving timeliness of patient transfer to the endoscopy suite. Results: Baseline data identified that the first case start time was delayed by 51 min when our actual start time is 08:00 am. Our first PDSA cycle involved a 15-minute earlier physician handover start time. PDSA cycle #1 reduced our mean procedural start time to 08:49 am [UCL: 104 minutes; LCL: −5.4 minutes]. Our second PDSA cycle, involved the standardization of a planned procedural list and mandate for the first procedure to be esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD). PDSA cycle #2 reduced start time reduced to 08:29 am [UCL: 69.6 minutes; LCL: −12.4 minutes]. Our third PDSA cycle, involved utilizing the standardized procedural list to pre-emptively organize timely patient transfer to account for delays secondary to hospital portering services, which reduced the mean start time further to 08:22 am [UCL: 52.0 minutes; LCL: −8.0 minutes] (Figure 1). Conclusion: Using the model for continuous improvement we were able to increase procedural volumes by one (14%) per day. The most effective intervention included developing a standardized procedure list and mandating the first case as an EGD minimizing delays due to inadequate or incomplete bowel preparation.Figure 1.: A statistical process control chart (SPC) demonstrating baseline data on endoscopy procedural start time and interventions (PDSA #1, PDSA #2, PDSA #3) that were effective in reducing the delay in procedure start time and resulted in a subsequent increase in endoscopy unit efficiency.