Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women: quality lifelines for a lifetime.
METHODS
At Baptist Women's, a not-for-profit, 140-bed free-standing hospital, the Institute of Medicine's six quality dimensions are embedded into the quality blueprint and strategic plan. Quality initiatives and dashboards are shared through an established shared drive, which is accessible for all employees, to track performance on identified dashboards. IMPROVING MAMMOGRAPHY CYCLE TIME AT THE WOMEN'S HEALTH CENTER: Cycle time (arrival to departure) for mammography was identified as the top improvement priority. Increasing the percentage of patients who had preregistered reduced admission time, and process changes were made to move the patient through the center more efficiently. For example, patients with orders for additional films were flagged to ensure that these exams were completed before a new patient's exam. The ultrasound schedule was blocked during peak times to ensure that add-on exams could be performed in a timely manner. The cycle time was reduced for screening mammography (from 2 hours in 2003 to 30 minutes in April 2006) and diagnostic screenings, including review of films and reports with radiologist at departure, decreased from > 3 hours in 2003 to 2.5 hours in April 2006.


CONCLUSIONS
Expectations of teamwork, proactive problem resolution, communication on all levels, and customer service are the cornerstone of Baptist Women's culture of quality.
Beard
Cindy
C
Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women, USA.
Lilly
Kristen
K
Poynter
Joni
J
Thetford
Carol
C
Thompson
Rosalee
R
Vaughn
Anita
A
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D005260:Female; D006744:Hospital Bed Capacity, 100 to 299; D006788:Hospitals, Voluntary / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008327:Mammography / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015969:National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, U.S., Health and Medicine Division; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000592:standards; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards; D011247:Pregnancy; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D017751:Safety Management / Q000592:standards; D013714:Tennessee; D014481:United States; D014932:Women's Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards