Improving the quality of outpatient clinic letters using the Sheffield Assessment Instrument for Letters (SAIL)

AIM: To improve the quality of outpatient letters used as communication between hospital and primary care doctors. METHODS: On 2 separate occasions, 15 unselected outpatient letters written by each of 7 hospital practitioners were rated by another hospital doctor and a general practitioner (GP) using the Sheffield Assessment Instrument for Letters (SAIL). Individualised feedback was provided to participants following the rating of the first set of letters. The audit cycle was completed 3 months later without forewarning by repeat assessment by the same hospital and GP assessors using the SAIL tool to see if there was any improvement in correspondence. SETTING: Single centre: general paediatric outpatient department in a large district general hospital. RESULTS: All 7 doctors available for reassessment completed the audit loop, each providing 15 outpatient letters per assessment. The mean of the quality scores, derived for each letter from the summation of a 20-point checklist and a global score, improved from 23.3 (95% CI 22.1-24.4) to 26.6 (95% CI 25.8-27.4) (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The SAIL provides a feasible and reliable method of assessing the quality and content of outpatient clinic letters. This study demonstrates that it can also provide feedback with a powerful educational impact. This approach holds real potential for appraisal and revalidation, providing an effective means for the quality improvement required by clinical governance.     

Technical and allocative efficiency in production of outpatient mental health clinic services

This paper presents an analysis of production of ambulatory mental health services in free standing outpatient clinics. The study empirically addresses several issues including: the nature of returns to scale, the impact of differing organizational forms on the volume of service produced and the efficiency of staffing patterns used by psychiatric clinics. An appraisal of two popular production functions is offered based on predictive performance. The results suggest the existence of decreasing returns to scale; input hiring decisions that depart from cost minimization; and the potential important of a decentralized clinic organization for expansion of access to mental health services.     

Using simulation modeling to improve patient flow at an outpatient orthopedic clinic

We report on the use of discrete event simulation modeling to support process improvements at an orthopedic outpatient clinic. The clinic was effective in treating patients, but waiting time and congestion in the clinic created patient dissatisfaction and staff morale issues. The modeling helped to identify improvement alternatives including optimized staffing levels, better patient scheduling, and an emphasis on staff arriving promptly. Quantitative results from the modeling provided motivation to implement the improvements. Statistical analysis of data taken before and after the implementation indicate that waiting time measures were significantly improved and overall patient time in the clinic was reduced.     

Esophageal tumors at our outpatient clinic

INTRODUCTION: In the 1984-1997 period 1179 tumorous patients presented themselves at the oesophagus consultation of the Ist. Department of Surgery of Semmelweis University. The authors examined the changes in the characteristic features of these patients and the task of supply. OBJECT: The aim of analysis was estimating of the place and importance of the therapeutic methods applicable to ambulatory patients. METHODS: Essential task of the outpatients service was to summarize the diagnostic results and to supply the lacks for the therapeutic plan of the patients. Having possession of the results they had to make decisions of the necessary and possible method of therapy. From the 1179 patients it was necessary the ward admittance of 787 patients, in 512 cases in hope of resective operation, and in 275 cases in order to carry out palliative intervention under hospitalized circumstances. 392 patients were treated as outpatients. To outpatients in 296 cases tube endoprosthesis was implanted by endoscopic method for palliative purposes, there were made 14 dilating nasogastric tube treatments, in 2 cases percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, and in the case of 116 patients there were collaborations in intraluminal after-loading irradiation treatments. RESULTS: It appeared from the age-characteristics of the patients that the incidence in the examined period increased in the younger age-groups. The patients' main complaint was dysphagia, their average anamnesis-time was 4.03 months and it did not change during the 13 years. The incidence of the oesophago-respiratory fistula was 11.1% in the patient-population, and the incidence of reflectory dysphagia was 13.2%. There was an improvement in respect of the medical check-up of patients and the verification by histological examination of the tumorous process. In the case of 597 patients it was observed dysphagia requiring palliation and in 482 cases it succeeded to perform it by implanting endoprosthesis. There were 36 unsuccessful implantation attempts and in the case of 79 patients there were no conditions of intervention. CONCLUSIONS: In the treatment of oesophageal tumorous patients the interventions made in favour of the palliative improvement of agglutination were executable within the frame of the outpatient service, from among of which the implantation of endoscopic tube appeared to be the method improving the patients' quality of life and survival with the best result. In the course of years palliative treatments were made more and more in the frame of outpatient service. The authors feel it necessary to consider all the condition-ameliorating treatment possibilities and applications, which may not be alternatives of each other but complementaries.     

Ethnic diversity outpatient clinic in paediatrics

Background  

The health status of chronic sick ethnic minority children in the Netherlands is unequal compared with indigenous Dutch children. In order to optimize the health care for these children a specific patient-oriented clinic in ethnic-cultural diversity: the Mosaic Outpatient Clinic (MOC) was integrated in the general Paediatric Outpatient Departments (POPD) of three hospitals in Amsterdam.     

Improving patient flow at an outpatient clinic: study of sources of variability and improvement factors

This paper focuses on analyzing and improving patient flow at an outpatient clinic of the Indiana University Medical Group. A structured process analysis and improvement approach was used to identify sources of variability and improvement factors. A process map, that matched the flow process at the clinic, was developed and validated. Key sources of variability that had potential to contribute to congestion in flow were identified. Data on task times were collected by observing the process with stopwatch or from historical records. A simulation model corresponding to the process map was developed, and the output was validated. Several ideas to modify clinic operations were tested on the validated simulation model. The overall result was an improvement in both the mean and the standard deviation of patient wait time, as well as higher utilization of physicians’ time. The clinic has implemented several of our recommendations and experienced significant improvements.

Designed to fail: how computer simulation can detect fundamental flaws in clinic flow

Discrete-event simulation can be used as an effective tool for healthcare administrators to "test" various operational decisions. The recent growth in hospital outpatient volumes and a constrained financial environment make discrete-event simulation a cost-effective way to diagnose inefficiency and create and test strategies for improvement. This study shows how discrete-event simulation was used in an adult medicine clinic within a large, tertiary care, academic medical center. Simulation creation steps are discussed, including information gathering, process mapping, data collection, model creation, and results. Results of the simulation indicated that system bottle-necks were present in the medication administration and check-out steps of the clinic process. The simulation predicted that matching resources to excessive demand at appropriate times for these bottleneck steps would reduce patients' mean time in the system (i.e., visit time) from 124.3 (s.d. +/- 65.7) minutes to 87.0 (s.d. +/- 36.4) minutes. Although other factors may affect real-world operations of a clinic, discrete-event simulation allows healthcare administrators and clinic operational decision makers to observe the effects of changing staffing and resource allocations on patient wait and throughput time. Discrete-event simulation is not a cure-all for clinic throughput problems, but can be a strong tool to provide evidentiary guidance for clinic operational redesign.     

A microbiology clinic in outpatient gynecologic service

The authors report on their experiences gained at the sexually transmitted disease clinic they established at the First Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Semmelweis Medical University. A total of 456 patients presenting with signs and symptoms of lower genital tract infection have been examined in one year. The investigation of patients included aerobic and anaerobic culture of vaginal bacteria, vaginal smear and the identification of sexually transmitted Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Mycoplasmatales and Gardnerella vaginalis. The authors conclude that a sexually transmitted disease clinic is appropriate to contribute to the prevention of horizontal and vertical spread of the sexually transmitted bacterial infections.     

Hiv patients in a psychiatric outpatient clinic

The most often reported psychiatric complications among HIV-infected outpatients include: mood and anxiety disorders, and alcohol or nonopiate drug abuse. Medical records of 32 HIV-infected psychiatric outpatients in the Netherlands were studied. The most common DSM-III(-R) diagnoses included: major depression (n = 10) and adjustment disorder with depressive or anxious mood (n = 10). The psychiatric treatment of the HIV-infected outpatients did not differ fundamentally from the treatment of other psychiatric outpatients with similar problems. The increasing number of HIV infected patients in the Netherlands living outside of Amsterdam, would appear to urge more education of psychiatric and other health care professionals concerning specific aspects of HIV infection, homosexuality, prostitution and intravenous drug abuse.