Knowledge Bank

The Medical Center's heart failure patient's average length of stay in the Congestive Heart Failure Clinic is currently 89.2 minutes, which is 29.2 minutes greater than the appointment times of 60 minutes. Countermeasures put in place to mitigate this problem include: purchasing laptops to decrease staff walking distance; level schedule and nursing assignments to accommodate better patient flow; implement standard work in regards to documentation to eliminate re-work; and implement point-of-care testing to decrease lab wait time. As a result of Lean initiatives implemented the Congestive Heart Failure Clinic has seen approximately a 19 minute decrease in patient length of stay, an 18 day decrease in patient time to first appointment, a 70% reduction in staff overtime and an increase in patient and staff satisfaction.