Proposed Topic (Most preferred): :
Clinical Safety and Quality Service II (Projects aiming to enhance clinical safety and outcomes, clinical governance / risk management)
Authors (including presenting author) :
LI LL(1), WONG NS(1), CHAN CY(1), WONG YFB(1), MAN HY(2)
Affiliation :
(1) Specialist Out-Patient Clinic, North Lantau Hospital (2) Central Nursing Department, North Lantau Hospital
Introduction :
Regarding to manage the report from Pathology Department that there are the number of delays blood samplings occurring between Apr 2023 to May 2023. The delay range time increased to 70-90 minutes compared with previous blood specimen collection and registration at Pathology Department. Such delay had the potentially impact for the efficiency of patient treatment plan and follow up procedures. Therefore, the current service workflow was reviewed with following to enhance the blood sample ordering system (GCRS-Plus). Several areas had been identified for improvement in order to avoid delay blood specimen arrival.
Objectives :
1. To ensure timely specimen registration at Pathology Department 2. To increase the efficiency of phlebotomy service in hospital
Methodology :
The service workflow was reviewed comprehensively and seek feedbacks from various department frontline staff such as clinical wards, central porters, and phlebotomists. There were two main areas identified for improvement (1) Re-scheduling specimen transportation route by Central Support Department (2) GCRS-Plus ordering system application. Actions were taken for improvement : (i)To reinforce the separate transportation routes for urgent and routine specimen delivery to prevent any delays by mixing up both during the transportation. (ii) To enhance the communication between phlebotomist and ward staff by notify them in every 30 mins for transportation arrangement when specimen collection was ready. (iii) To align the practice and common language of blood taking ordering and scheduling in among wards to minimize the preparation time of service. (iv) Clearance of the unnecessary blood taking ordering from GCRS-Plus system regularly by medical officers. (v) To ensure the readiness of equipment and devices for blood taking by individual ward such as iPads, printers which were fully charged and ready to use with stable WiFi connection.
Result & Outcome :
The Pathology Department had reviewed the average registration time for blood specimens in July 2023 which had a significant improvement even better to baseline registration time within 100 mins, that was average 65 mins. Moreover, the workflow of phlebotomy service & GCRS-Plus application in departments were enhanced as a result to reduce the phlebotomist preparation time or work for screening the unnecessary blood ordering from iPad. It could just take in a time range of 5-8 minutes per normal blood sampling to improve the efficiency of the service. In Conclusions, the crucial factor successfully for enhancement the phlebotomy service was engaging different stakeholders especially the clinical frontline staff. To sustainable of the quality phlebotomy service was requiring better communication among departments and continuously monitoring.
