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Identifying non-value added waste that delay emergency CT brain workflow using lean management principles

Introduction: The Department of Radiology at Groote Schuur Hospital receives numerous emergency CT brain requests especially from the Emergency and Trauma departments. Improvement in emergency CT brain workflow should reduce waiting times for CT scans resulting in earlier diagnosis and treatment of...

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Main Author: van Zyl, Carike
Other Authors: Weimann, Edda
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Division of Radiology 2021
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access_status_str Open Access
author van Zyl, Carike
author2 Weimann, Edda
author_browse Weimann, Edda
van Zyl, Carike
author_facet Weimann, Edda
van Zyl, Carike
author_sort van Zyl, Carike
collection Thesis
description Introduction: The Department of Radiology at Groote Schuur Hospital receives numerous emergency CT brain requests especially from the Emergency and Trauma departments. Improvement in emergency CT brain workflow should reduce waiting times for CT scans resulting in earlier diagnosis and treatment of these patients. Identification of the nonvalue-added waste (NVAW) (steps regarded as wasteful to the customer) in the CT brain workflow can be determined by use of a lean management tool namely a value stream map (VSM - a flow analysis of information required to provide service to the customer). AIM: The study aims to identify non-value-added waste in the CT brain workflow value stream map which may result in delay in emergency CT brain reporting. Method: This study investigated NVAW in emergency CT brain workflow for 5 working days between 08h00 to 22h00 from Monday to Friday. Nineteen patients booked for an emergency CT brain scan by the Emergency Department (ED) only between 08h00 and 22h00 over the specific 5 day working period were randomly selected using convenience sampling. The indications for emergency CT brain scans in the sample were similar to the wider group of patients undergoing emergency CT brain scans. A VSM identifying all the relevant steps in the emergency CT brain workflow was constructed. The investigator accompanied each of the nineteen patients from the ED to the CT scanner and back and manually recorded the time elapsed in minutes for each separate step on the data collection sheet. The outstanding information required was obtained from the Xiris system on the Phillips PACS (Picture Archiving and Communicating System). The average time interval for each of the steps as indicated on the VSM was calculated, and the rate limiting step(s) which resulted in a delay in emergency CT brain reporting was identified. Results: Overall, the longest step was the time interval from the time of completion of the scan to the generation of the report (turnaround time (TAT)) with an average time of 72.21 minutes (p value of < 0,01). Conversely, the time interval from placing the request by the clinician on the PACS to the time of annotation by the radiologist was the shortest with an average time of 5.84 minutes. Discussion: The lean management system was used to identify the rate limiting step(s) which resulted in delay in emergency CT brain reporting. Possible reasons identified for the delay caused by the rate limiting step include the backlog in reporting of the large number of already scanned cases which may be due to staff constraints as only one radiologist was on duty during most of the study period. Additional contributory factors include clinician telephonic query interruptions to radiology registrars during reporting sessions and delay in the emergency doctor authorising and facilitating transport of the patient from the emergency unit to the CT scanner. Conclusion: The value stream map tool in lean management can be utilised to identify non value added waste in emergency CT brain workflow.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:12.136Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
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publisher Division of Radiology
publisherStr Division of Radiology
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source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/33964 Identifying non-value added waste that delay emergency CT brain workflow using lean management principles van Zyl, Carike Weimann, Edda Ahmed, Nazir radiology Introduction: The Department of Radiology at Groote Schuur Hospital receives numerous emergency CT brain requests especially from the Emergency and Trauma departments. Improvement in emergency CT brain workflow should reduce waiting times for CT scans resulting in earlier diagnosis and treatment of these patients. Identification of the nonvalue-added waste (NVAW) (steps regarded as wasteful to the customer) in the CT brain workflow can be determined by use of a lean management tool namely a value stream map (VSM - a flow analysis of information required to provide service to the customer). AIM: The study aims to identify non-value-added waste in the CT brain workflow value stream map which may result in delay in emergency CT brain reporting. Method: This study investigated NVAW in emergency CT brain workflow for 5 working days between 08h00 to 22h00 from Monday to Friday. Nineteen patients booked for an emergency CT brain scan by the Emergency Department (ED) only between 08h00 and 22h00 over the specific 5 day working period were randomly selected using convenience sampling. The indications for emergency CT brain scans in the sample were similar to the wider group of patients undergoing emergency CT brain scans. A VSM identifying all the relevant steps in the emergency CT brain workflow was constructed. The investigator accompanied each of the nineteen patients from the ED to the CT scanner and back and manually recorded the time elapsed in minutes for each separate step on the data collection sheet. The outstanding information required was obtained from the Xiris system on the Phillips PACS (Picture Archiving and Communicating System). The average time interval for each of the steps as indicated on the VSM was calculated, and the rate limiting step(s) which resulted in a delay in emergency CT brain reporting was identified. Results: Overall, the longest step was the time interval from the time of completion of the scan to the generation of the report (turnaround time (TAT)) with an average time of 72.21 minutes (p value of < 0,01). Conversely, the time interval from placing the request by the clinician on the PACS to the time of annotation by the radiologist was the shortest with an average time of 5.84 minutes. Discussion: The lean management system was used to identify the rate limiting step(s) which resulted in delay in emergency CT brain reporting. Possible reasons identified for the delay caused by the rate limiting step include the backlog in reporting of the large number of already scanned cases which may be due to staff constraints as only one radiologist was on duty during most of the study period. Additional contributory factors include clinician telephonic query interruptions to radiology registrars during reporting sessions and delay in the emergency doctor authorising and facilitating transport of the patient from the emergency unit to the CT scanner. Conclusion: The value stream map tool in lean management can be utilised to identify non value added waste in emergency CT brain workflow. 2021-09-16T13:10:41Z 2021-09-16T13:10:41Z 2020 2021-09-16T13:10:11Z Master Thesis Masters MMed http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33964 eng application/pdf Division of Radiology Faculty of Health Sciences
spellingShingle radiology
van Zyl, Carike
Identifying non-value added waste that delay emergency CT brain workflow using lean management principles
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Identifying non-value added waste that delay emergency CT brain workflow using lean management principles
title_full Identifying non-value added waste that delay emergency CT brain workflow using lean management principles
title_fullStr Identifying non-value added waste that delay emergency CT brain workflow using lean management principles
title_full_unstemmed Identifying non-value added waste that delay emergency CT brain workflow using lean management principles
title_short Identifying non-value added waste that delay emergency CT brain workflow using lean management principles
title_sort identifying non value added waste that delay emergency ct brain workflow using lean management principles
topic radiology
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33964
work_keys_str_mv AT vanzylcarike identifyingnonvalueaddedwastethatdelayemergencyctbrainworkflowusingleanmanagementprinciples