292 Surgical Registrar Hot Clinic - Quality Improvement Project
Michaela Rogers, Lakith Kapuge, Reece Brunt, Callum Harries, Michael Okocha, Awad Shamali- Surgery
Abstract
Aims
Patient seen by the on-call general surgical team who require a semi-urgent clinical assessment, imaging or an operation who are well enough to go home, are discharged with plan to come back the following day to have these done. Unfortunately, these scan are often reviewed in the afternoon having a detrimental effect on patient satisfaction and flow. A possible solution to this is having a registrar-led dedicated morning hot clinic with allocated imaging slots where these returns could be seen.
Methods
2 months worth of SAU returns were reviewed. Patient lists were reviewed and data collected including date of return, brief history and the reason for coming back. Reasons for coming back were divided into 3 categories - Clinical review, Imaging, Theatre.
Results
A total of 159 patients were brought back to SAU over 2 months. 36 patients were brought back for review, 104 patients were brought for imaging and 19 patients were brought for theatre.
Conclusion
This project identified that on average 4 patients are asked to return daily. 85% of these returns are either for clinical review or imaging. As such having dedicated slots in the radiology department between 9 and 10 and a hot clinic from 10 and 11 would streamline the current process. This will have a number of benefits including quicker turn around for patients which will improve patient satisfaction and will reduce the number of patients waiting on SAU at any given time allowing both doctors and nurses to be able to provide safe and effective care in an already stretched and demanding environment.