Optimized chemotherapy infusion schedule increases patient, staff satisfaction
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Mayo Clinic Cancer Center in Phoenix developed and implemented a new system that allows chemotherapy infusions to be scheduled throughout the day.
The initiative — described in a paper published in JCO Oncology Practice — prevents mid-day crowding in infusion facilities.
In this video, Alan H. Bryce, MD, an oncologist at the cancer center, spoke with Healio about how the system works and the benefits it provides.
“Everyone wants to show up between the peak hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.,” Bryce told Healio. “What ends up happening is, you create a big logjam in the middle of the day. Safety suffers and the patient experience suffers.”
In addition, the nursing staff, pharmacy staff and others involved in administering care become overburdened during peak hours but are underutilized during shoulder times, Bryce added.
“If you optimize that, then everybody wins,” Bryce said.
Kristin Altman, MSN, RN, OCN, nurse manager in charge of the cancer center’s chemotherapy unit, spoke with Healio about how the schedule has been optimized.
“We put the shorter infusion times at the beginning of the day to help ramp and get the chemotherapy unit up and running, and at the end of the day to help them slow down and finish the day,” Altman told Healio. “We put our longer infusion times between the middle of the day ... so there is less flow in and out when staff are trying to take their lunch breaks and step away from patient care. We were consistent with safety and we were also ensuring we had the right resources for the right number of patients, but we optimized our entire calendar from beginning to end.”
Patient satisfaction and staff satisfaction have both increased.
“Even though it’s a difficult process ... to account for all of the variables and come up with an optimal template, it can be done and it’s a worthwhile endeavor,” Bryce told Healio.
Reference:
Huang YL, et al. J Oncol Pract. 2018;doi:10.1200/JOP.2017.025510.
Collapse
Healio Interviews
Read more about
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts