Abstract
BackgroundAt a community cancer center, during weekly quality improvement huddles, the radiation therapy team expressed stress and frustration with the pretreatment pathway for patients requiring palliative radiotherapy. As the department was meeting provincial targets with respect to wait times, it was unknown why the consensus around the department reflected discomfort and stress. MethodsFour radiation therapists formed a quality improvement project team, intent on utilizing a data-driven improvement cycle to investigate and address opportunities to improve the discomfort around this pretreatment pathway. After defining the process and identifying the customers (the health care providers operating in this pathway), the team conducted interviews with each person, transcribing answers verbatim, and grouping results by discipline. Utilizing the interview themes, each discipline identified one or two priorities to measure, as well as metrics to capture the magnitude and prevalence of these priorities. ResultsEach discipline's priorities were measured and analyzed. The identified issues brought forward at the weekly quality improvement huddles were not as prevalent as expected. Minor changes were implemented for priority issues. ConclusionThe team focused on the four principles of quality improvement: the patient, team, process, and data to address the expressed discomfort around this specific radiation therapy pathway. The results dispelled some of the myths among teams and provided solutions to areas where minor improvements were required. Utilizing the data, an evidence-informed timeline was validated, encouraging task deadlines to be more evenly distributed across the pathway. Plans to monitor this pathway are being established. The team was successful in contributing to a growing culture of continuous improvement at this community cancer center.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.