Improving time efficiency gathering equipment in the treatment room

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Healthcare Management
• Clinical Efficiency

Background:

• Junior doctors spend considerable time on non-clinical tasks, averaging 29 hours annually accessing treatment rooms and 4 working days collecting equipment.
• Inefficiencies in accessing treatment rooms and equipment hinder timely medical interventions and impact overall healthcare delivery.
• Current practices for equipment access and storage are not standardized, leading to wasted time and resources.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the time junior doctors spend on accessing treatment rooms and collecting equipment.
• To identify and implement solutions for improving time efficiency in clinical workflows.
• To reduce the time required for equipment retrieval, promote best practices, and facilitate prompt medical interventions.

Main Methods:

• A Likert scale questionnaire administered to 24 junior doctors confirmed significant time wastage.
• An experiment timed healthcare professionals accessing treatment rooms with and without secure access codes provided via iPad.
• Development and piloting of 'procedure-specific' trays for common medical procedures (e.g., cannulation, lumbar puncture, catheter).

Main Results:

• Projected time savings of 703 hours (88 working days) annually at Northampton General Hospital (NGH) by improving treatment room access.
• Projected savings of 802 hours (100 working days) annually at NGH through the implementation of indexed 'procedure-specific' trays.
• A 97% relative improvement in time saving for cannulation procedures, reducing time from 225s to 7s with custom-designed trays.

Conclusions:

• Streamlining access to treatment rooms and standardizing equipment through 'procedure-specific' trays significantly improves junior doctor efficiency.
• These interventions are projected to save substantial working hours and associated costs for healthcare trusts.
• Optimizing clinical workflows through practical solutions like procedure-specific trays can enhance the timeliness and quality of medical care.