Identifying delays in the outpatient interventional radiology department: a quality improvement study

In the post-COVID 19 environment, it has become increasingly important for healthcare services to optimise service delivery for the benefit of both patients and staff. The project purpose was to quantify and determine causes of throughput delays in a newly established outpatient angiography service in a public hospital setting.

This single-centre study obtained quantitative and qualitative data for 81 consecutive outpatient interventional radiology (IR) examinations over a 3-month period via survey and retrospective analysis of electronic medical records. Staff participating in data collection were able to record multiple causes for delay in a single case and were also able to include comments, allowing for more detailed descriptions of the delays that occurred.

A total of 93 delay factors were identified in 73 of the 81 outpatient interventional examinations and grouped into six categories via thematic analysis. Availability of the IR room (40%), availability of the radiologist (28%) and insufficient documentation (18%) were identified as the most frequent causes for delay. Linear regression analysis showed that documentation (P = 0.0002) and room unavailability (P = 0.022) were independently associated with procedural starting delay.

Delays to the IR procedural start time occurred in 90% of cases (73/81). This study identified the causes for delays in outpatient interventional procedures. This information can be used to improve service delivery in IR departments.