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Challenge
- To assemble a Cardiac Cath Lab Team, ED personnel had to make individual and often multiple calls to each team member.
- The average time it took to alert the team was 13 minutes. However, it was not unusual for 20 minutes to elapse before all the team members could be reached.
- The average door-to-balloon time was 117 minutes, nearly a half-hour longer than the 90 minute interval recommended by the American College of Cardiology.
- As the alert process wore on and pressure mounted, patient information given to team members by the ED personnel was at times attenuated. Some team members were arriving without a clear idea of patient condition.
Solution
- When calling in an alert, ED personnel are automatically queried about the patient’s condition.
- When Cath Lab Team members receive an alert, they listen to a brief message about the patient’s condition. They confirm receipt by pressing a single number.
- If a team member is non-responsive over a given time interval, PerfectServe determines which back-up team member is on call and contacts them automatically.
- PerfectServe immediately informs the ED as soon as the entire team has received an alert.
- Thus, just one call is required to alert the entire Cath Lab Team, compared to 15 or more calls prior to PerfectServe.
- The ED no longer has to track call schedules or contact numbers of Cath Lab Team members. This information is assembled and maintained within the PerfectServe network.
- Finally, PerfectServe tracks details of each alert and provides monthly reports to department leadership. When questions arise on a specific alert, PerfectServe provides pertinent data allowing for event analysis and continuous improvement.
Results
- The Cath Lab Team alert process was reduced from 13-20 minutes to 2-4 minutes.
- Fairfield Medical Center’s overall door-to-balloon time was reduced from an average of 117 minutes to about 70 minutes – well within the 90 minutes recommended by the ACC. PerfectServe was an important factor in achieving that improvement.