In February 2022 University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital CMO Selwyn Vickers identified inpatient MRI as a bottleneck that prevented timely inpatient discharge. University Hospital (a 1200-bed facility) must discharge in excess of 200 patients daily to compensate for patients awaiting regional transfers and admission from hospital UED. University Hospital serves a level 1 trauma center as well as a regional stroke center.
Benchmarks for inpatient and UED MRI time from order to imaging are 12 and 6 hours respectively. At the time of notification, the TAT was 24 hours on average for inpatients and 10 hours for UED patients. Contributing factors to the increased TAT were staffing deficiencies due to FMLA, Covid, and retirements. Also identified, was the need for a Lead Technologist that could be dedicated to patient throughput and a staffing matrix, that when fulfilled, would generate maximum departmental productivity. Buy-in from MRI staff relative to a cultural shift in daily productivity expectations would also be necessary as well as constant monitoring of utilization for each shift. Staffing for UABH MRI was improved and Lead Technologists were implemented for Day and Night shifts. Significant results have been documented in Turn Around Time that exceeded most expectations with Inpatient TAT for June of 2022 being 5.5 and UED being 4.15 at a monthly volume of over 900 exams. The discussion I propose will trace and detail this narrative.
Learning Objectives:
Identify departmental opportunities.
Assess and understand internal strengths and weakness.
Develop and implement strategy.
Assess progress: Measure success and failure.
Remain resiliant, learning from both success and failure.