Shortening Time Required for Bone Scan Report - การลดระยะเวลาการรายงานผลการตรวจแสกนกระดูก

Abstract

        Bone scan is the most commonly requested diagnostic test in Nuclear Medicine. Thus, it is essential to improve the quality of the test to provide not only accuracy but also expedite results for the patient’s proper treatment as soon as possible. After studying baseline data of the operation time taken in each step of the process of bone scan, the research team did a root cause analysis before any implementation was established to reduce time delays while maintaining quality. Then, the operation time were compared before and after the implementation of the project from August 2003 to April 2007. The objective was to reduce the time delays of reporting for at least 80 percent for the bone scan patients. A perfect cooperation among Nuclear Medicine physicians and personnels in various field during the project was a to key success. Some effective tools included screening and ranking the patients according to individuals’ needs and diagnostis urgency, and hence creating a recognition of patients’ needs to radiological technologists as well as physicians.

          Consequently, the objective of the project was achieved and the average duration to complete reporting result in the patients without emergency conditions was shortened from 19 hours 38 minutes to only 2 hours 37 minutes. It was concluded that a well-planned system, a perfect cooperation among multidisciplinary staffs and continuous quality improvement can be established without too much difficulty, and these will result in more efficient care and service to the patients.

Key words: quality improvement, bone scan, nuclear medicine reporting