Date of Award

Summer 2024

Project Type

Thesis

College or School

CHHS

Department

Nursing

Departments (Collect)

Nursing

Program or Major

Clinical Nurse Leader

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Deborah Simonton, EdD, MS, RN, CNL

Abstract

Background: Timeliness is a crucial aspect of high-quality care, yet remains a common issue faced by many outpatient infusion settings leading to patient dissatisfaction and potential negative outcomes.

Local Problem: At a 28-chair community infusion center, results from patient satisfaction surveys as well as chart audits highlighted suboptimal wait times and efficiency. 32% of patients were dissatisfied with wait times ranging from 23 to 40 minutes based on the therapy received.

Methods: A quality improvement project was conducted aiming to decrease the average wait time of patients receiving short therapies while increasing patient satisfaction. After a thorough review of the literature, an acuity-based model of care was implemented incorporating three new interventions into practice: the development of a new oncology-specific acuity tool used for pre-planned nursing assignments, the start-up of a fast-track area of care, and nursing education.

Results: Chart audit data was analyzed pre and post-implementation showing a 19.4% decrease in wait times for short therapy patients from an average of 23.2 minutes to 18.7 minutes (p = 0.354). NRC satisfaction surveys were also analyzed noting a 5.9% increase in patient satisfaction related to timeliness of care.

Conclusions: Implementing an acuity-based model of care may optimize unit efficiency and timeliness, improve patient and nurse satisfaction, create safer and more equitable nursing assignments, reduce resource waste, and generate potential increased revenue.

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