Improving customer relations and telephone response in Abbott Northwestern Hospital's laboratory department.
METHODS
Improve the Laboratory's phone answering process. Principals: Clinical and administrative laboratory staff and a telecommunications specialist. Process Improvement Method: Modification of model used by the National Demonstration PROJECT on Quality Improvement in Healthcare. Timeline: May 1991-present. RESULTS reported here: August 1991-July 1992. The team is currently reviewing a computerized voice processing system that will take requests to reprint lab reports, take outpatient lab orders directly from doctors' offices, and provide test results and information on test tube specification for specific blood tests. Key Findings or Improvements: More than half the calls to the Laboratory needed to be transferred to Microbiology. Alternative communication systems such as a computerized voice answering system and the hospital's computer network could be used in place of phones to transmit information to and from the Laboratory.


RESULTS
With the installation of an automated answering system, calls to Microbiology are automatically re-routed and the number of incoming calls to the Laboratory have dropped. More lab requests and reports are being handled by computer.
D003258:Consumer Behavior; D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006746:Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over; D006747:Hospital Communication Systems / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008332:Management Quality Circles; D008910:Minnesota; D011340:Problem Solving; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires