Improving Patient Wait Times on the First Day of Radiotherapy Treatment.

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Healthcare Management
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Long wait times on the first day of radiotherapy (day 1) lead to patient and provider dissatisfaction.
• Reducing these delays is crucial for decreasing patient stress and hospital congestion, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Purpose of the Study:

• To reduce the median wait time on day 1 of radiotherapy from 6 to 4.5 hours (a 25% reduction).
• To improve patient and healthcare provider satisfaction by optimizing the radiotherapy initiation process.

Main Methods:

• A multidisciplinary team utilized quality improvement tools like fishbone diagrams, Pareto charts, and Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles.
• Interventions included completing administrative tasks prior to day 1 and streamlining patient flow.
• Data collected included time from arrival to treatment room entry, visual analog scale (VAS) scores, and day-2 delay rates.

Main Results:

• Median wait time on day 1 decreased from 6 hours to 4.2 hours.
• Patient satisfaction (VAS scores) improved, with 71.9% satisfaction.
• 80th percentile wait times reduced from 8 to 5.7 hours, and day-2 delay rates dropped from 22.5% to 2.04% with no new errors.

Conclusions:

• Classic quality improvement methods effectively and safely reduce radiotherapy day 1 wait times.
• These improvements lead to enhanced satisfaction for both patients and healthcare providers.