Tools: Root Cause Analysis, System Design

Collaborators: Bhavneet Bola, Jeeda Sabri, Harleen Khangura, Shilpa Rao

<aside> 💡 For the first iteration of University of Waterloo’s Health Innovation Challenge, I worked in a team of 4 to design a system level approach for reducing waiting times in hospitals.

</aside>

The prompt provided was:

How can we design innovative solutions to reduce the need of OR fully eliminate emergency department waiting rooms?

1. Root Cause Analysis: Upon completing a root cause analysis, it was realized that the root issue for the increase of waiting times in the emergency department of a hospital are the limited real estate + resources. Therefore, appropriate resource allocation and patient prioritization is key.
2. Stakeholder Interview: An interview was completed with an ER nurse to gain greater insight on how the emergency department runs, and how the resource allocation works currently in hospitals. This was essential in determining pain points where most delays occur in the ER.
3. Design Conceptualization: Upon completing the root cause analysis and stakeholder engagement, the info collected was used to build a system-level change and approach.

In order to address this large-scale problem, we realized that an impactful system-level change is necessary.

We decided to implement, Rapid Relief.

Rapid Relief is an accelerated zone within the ER that specializes in treating acute, easily identifiable and treatable conditions, such as broken bones. This zone has its own resources and staff with the sole purpose of treating patients rapidly.

Patient transfers within ER using Rapid Relief system.

<aside> 💡 Currently 20% of all ED visits are classified as family practice sensitive conditions, resulting in immediate discharge from the department. With the RapidRelief Unit, the system now transitions to efficiently manage these cases.

</aside>

To further improve this system, some ideas we are considering include…