Patient flow in the preoperative assessment clinic:

Nurse-run preanaesthesia assessment clinics: an initiative towards improving the quality of perioperative care at the ambulatory care centre

Introduction

Nurse-run preanaesthesia assessment is well established in ambulatory surgery. However, in the Middle East the implementation of such a service is new and needed careful preparation. Aim of this audit is to assess the feasibility and the quality of preoperative assessments by the specially trained nurses, patient and nurse satisfaction and overall perioperative quality of recovery.

Methods

The nurses were selected and trained first in an accredited programme. Then an implementation period of 3 month was used for them to gain experience. Hereafter, we performed a four-step audit on the quality of preassessment, the patient’s satisfaction, the quality of recovery and adverse events if any. Finally, we also monitored the nurse’s satisfaction of their new advanced role.

Results

The quality of preanaesthesia assessment was high as with 95% compliance to the accepted standards. In the patient satisfaction survey, all 152 patients were either highly satisfied or satisfied with the nurse-run service. The nurses were also highly satisfied and felt that they were either highly or moderately valued. All the patients who were operated at the ambulatory care services were followed up postoperatively by telephone calls which revealed that most of them were highly satisfied. No major or minor adverse events occurred.

Conclusion

Our specially trained nurses perform preoperative assessments on high standard without adverse events, while patient and staff satisfaction is very high. Future projects will focus on reducing the rate of cancellation of surgeries, investigating the cost-effectiveness of this approach as well as training the specialised nurses for paediatric preoperative anaesthesia assessments. This model of care could induce further nurse-run models of care in the Middle East.

Exploring integrated supply chain performance in healthcare: a service provider perspective

Purpose

The paper identifies the antecedents and consequences of integrated supply chain performance (ISCP) in healthcare systems.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a review of the literature constructs of supply chain flexibility (SCF), employee relationships (ERs), organizational orientation (OO) and knowledge exchange (KE) were identified as antecedents of ISCP, and patient centricity (PC) emerged as its consequence. This structural relationship was tested using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Findings

ERs, SCF, OO and KE positively impacted the performance of an integrated healthcare supply chain. Furthermore, enhanced ISCP in operational processes of the hospital positively influenced patient centeredness and care quality.

Research limitations/implications

Paper contributes by identifying antecedents and consequences of ISCP. Future researchers may explore the inter-relationships among the antecedents of ISCP.

Practical implications

Insights from this study will help practitioners in enhancing hospital operations by integrating processes along the healthcare service supply chain and developing a patient-centric approach.

Social implications

This paper highlights how PC may be achieved by focusing on a facilitative internal environment. This understanding may help in designing processes that deliver health as a social good in an effective manner.

Originality/value

The empirical evidence from this study can help hospitals integrate their functions, thus, enabling them to deliver quality care.

[Analysis and options for optimization of preoperative assessment for anesthesia at a university hospital]

BACKGROUND

Risk assessment prior to elective surgery is an important tool in the context of perioperative patient care; however, only a few studies have been carried out to address the processes and problems during preoperative assessment for anesthesia.

AIM

Over a period of several weeks all preoperative anesthesia evaluations prior to elective surgery were prospectively recorded in order to generate a data pool with a view to identifying options for process optimization.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

All preoperative evaluations over a period of 38 working days at the University Medical Center Regensburg were recorded and analyzed with respect to waiting time for the patient and the duration of the preoperative consultation on medication. Also documented were the patient age, ASA score, the faculty carrying out the operation, type and risk of surgery, planned time of surgery, professional experience of the anesthesiologist and the approval status for surgery. In addition, all problems which occurred during the preoperative anesthesia evaluation were documented using a questionnaire.

RESULTS

Overall 2233 preoperative assessments for anesthesia were recorded and analyzed. The number of patients attending the preoperative assessment clinic differed markedly in the course of a day and was lower at the end of the week. Approval for surgery with no reservations was given more frequently by anesthesiologists with more than 5 years professional experience and consultants compared to younger colleagues. The main reason for approval with reservations or no approval was the lack of patient records and test results, which should have been presented according to the in-house standard for preoperative assessment for anesthesia. The mean waiting time was 58.6 ± 30.3 min, the mean duration of the patient documentation review and physician-patient consultation together was 33.6 ± 16.3 min. Anesthesiologists with 2-5 years professional experience needed significantly less time for patient documentation reviews and physician-patient consultations than younger and more experienced colleagues. The duration of the preoperative assessment for anesthesia correlated with the ASA score and risks of surgery.

CONCLUSION

The analysis of processes and problems in the context of preoperative assessment for anesthesia revealed several options for optimization. Major efforts should be the implementation of an appointment system for the preoperative assessment clinic in order to generate a homogeneous distribution of patients during the course of a day. Furthermore, surgeons and case managers should be requested to refer patients to the preoperative assessment clinic only with complete records and test results according to the in-house standard.

[Evaluation of a new computerized recording system for preoperative assessment data]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Little information is available on the use of computerized systems in preanesthetic assessment. Our aim was to evaluate staff acceptance of a computerized system for the structured recording of preoperative assessment data in our hospital. The time taken to complete the assessment was compared to the time usually taken to record the information on paper.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Observational, descriptive cross-sectional survey of user satisfaction 3 months after the system had been launched. We later carried out a prospective observational study of 796 preanesthetic assessment visits, comparing the mean time the users took to record information on paper to the time required to enter the data into the computer, analyzing differences between anesthesiologists and according to American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification and patient age.

RESULTS

A total of 401 paper records and 395 electronic files were included. The users believed that the computerized system improved quality and accessibility of recorded data and clinical decision-making. The time required to enter data into the computer was believed to be the main drawback; the users took a mean (SD) 15.21 (5.41) minutes to enter the electronic data and 13.37 (5.08) minutes to record the information on paper (P < .001). There were also significant differences in the time taken to record data according to ASA classification and between anesthesiologists (P < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

In spite of drawbacks such as extra time taken to record electronic data, the users perceived benefits, such as improved quality and accessibility of records. For this reason, the computerized system was well accepted.

Patient perception of the utility of the Preanesthetic Clinics in a Caribbean developing country

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Perception of the patients regarding the utility of the Preanesthetic Clinics and flow time in clinics has not been widely studied in the developing world. The present study aims to study this aspect.

METHODS

A self-administered 15-item questionnaire survey was conducted among patients attending the Preanesthetic Clinics at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Trinidad. The questionnaire was also distributed to the patients attending the General Surgical Clinic for comparison. Another questionnaire was distributed among the staff of the Preanesthetic Clinic. Patient demographics including age, gender, and educational status and American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status were noted. Other data recorded were patient flow time and details of attending staff.

RESULTS

Of the 220 patients who attended the Preanesthetic Clinics, 92.7% participated in the study. The reliability of the questionnaire was supported by Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.67). The median time for referral from the surgical clinic to Preanesthetic Clinic was 50 days, median waiting time in the clinic was 2.7 hours, and the median waiting time for surgery after acceptance in the clinic was 13 days. The patients' opinions regarding the benefits of the clinic, length of the waiting time was independent of their age and educational status. Patients felt that attending the Preanesthetic Clinic was beneficial and not costly to them, although the waiting times were found to be longer.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients perceive that attending the Preanesthetic Clinic has been useful before the surgical procedure and the care they received in the clinic was satisfactory.