| dc.description.abstract | One of the major challenges faced by healthcare organizations are the surgical wait times and the impact it has on the quality of patient care. Healthcare leaders have realized and are now investing resources in key areas like the surgical department in order to improve efficiency and access to healthcare services. One way to improve efficiency of the surgical service delivery is to find solution to the existing hospital-wide problem called “patient flow”. The Capital District Health Authority aims to improve the workflow and communication processes in all its facilities with operating rooms (The Dartmouth General Hospital, Victoria General Hospital, Halifax Infirmary and The Hants Community Hospital) by implementing patient tracking monitors throughout their perioperative services area. Patient Tracking is a module of the Horizon Surgical Manager project. It provides easy to read, reliable and up-to-the minute information of the surgical case status to the defined user groups (staff of the each department of the surgical services) who rely on this information to provide streamlined and efficient patient care. With the proper planning, developing and implementing of the tracking board, there would be an increase in the perioperative efficiency – decrease in operating room over utilization time and turn-over times, reduction in communication errors and an improvement in staff satisfaction. The planning and design of the tracking board requires increased collaboration between the information technology professionals and the medical staff. Some of the potential factors identified for the success of this system are real time documentation, proper system interfacing, end-user involvement throughout the process from planning to implementation of the system, proper testing, training, implementation and maintenance. | en_US |
