an estimated $7 billion in annual waste
while improving the quality of care, the
US healthcare system must embrace
teamwork and improvement methods.
Next steps at NSMC include touching
base with referring offices and hospital
administration, and improving workflow
in other sections of the department. In
fact, the team subsequently applied the
autofax process to pediatric x-ray wet
reads and improved that turnaround
time by 75%.
Sharing the experience that came out
of CPIP encouraged others in the radiology department to enroll in a process
improvement course offered at the hospital. Many of those individuals are now
engaged in projects of their own.
Mary Ellen Tobey, RT(R)(M) is the radiology business
and customer service manager at North Shore
Medical Center in Massachusetts. She completed the
radiology technology program at Northeastern
University and has been in the field of radiology for
over 35 years.
Alvin Yamamoto, MD attended the University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He completed a
radiology residency and cross sectional imaging
fellowship at the University of California, San
Francisco. Following training, Dr. Yamamoto joined
Commonwealth Radiology Associates and was
appointed to the medical staff at North Shore Medical
Center in Salem, MA in 2007.
Dawn Robertson is a freelance editor, journalist,
designer, creative writer, and published author. She
can be contacted at dawn@dcrobertson.com.
Figure 4 • Change Data (SPC)
