title: Decreasing preoperative delays--a rapid process improvement project.
abstract: Patient delays in the preoperative area are frustrating to patients, staff members, and physicians. These delays result in indirect costs that waste resources and decrease revenue. The purpose of this project was to determine whether implementation of rapid process improvement methodology would decrease preoperative patient delays. A delay was defined as any time a patient is not ready 30 minutes before his or her scheduled surgery time. A 7% reduction in delays occurred as a result of the project. Although the change was not statistically significant, it was clinically significant.
authors.affiliation: University of Phoenix, Ariz, USA.
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Celik
mesh_terms: D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D006801:Humans; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000592:standards*; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods; D013503:Surgery Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D013997:Time Factors; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000379:methods*