| Abstract: | To reduce extended appointment times at a heart failure clinic, 3 Lean healthcare-based changes were planned and implemented one at a time over 4 months. Findings based on 1,267 appointments showed that appointment times decreased with proper implementation. Although staffing challenges and inadequate sample sizes prevented statistical analysis on consult appointments, follow-up appointment results were statistically significant based on 1-way analysis of variance and Tukey honest significant difference tests. Although the study period prevented the determination of a correlation between monthly clinic end times and average appointment times (patient throughput), in-room minute decreases suggest that lean healthcare techniques can be effective in this context. |
