CREATING A FAST TRACK WITHIN AN OUTPATIENT ONCOLOGY INFUSION CENTER.
Significance & Background: Patients treated in oncology infusion centers can face wait times reaching 102 minutes1. Patient dissatisfaction from long wait times is reported in hematology/oncology populations2-4. Evidence suggests a negative association between prolonged patient wait time (PWT) and p...
| Publicado en: | Oncology Nursing Forum Vol. 53; no. 2; pp. 133 - 135 |
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| Autores principales: | , , , , |
| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Oncology Nursing Society
Mar2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=194211348&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 194211348 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 0190535X 4F0 jtl: Oncology Nursing Forum issn: 0190535X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Mar2026 vid: 53 iid: 2 pid: 12496 pub: Oncology Nursing Society place: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania artinfo: ui: 194211348 10.1188/26.ONF.e26535271 194211348 ppf: 133 ppct: 2 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P tig: atl: CREATING A FAST TRACK WITHIN AN OUTPATIENT ONCOLOGY INFUSION CENTER. aug: au: Hamlet, Noelle Golingay, Sally Tang, Hien Cosme, Mary Jill Buluran, Michelle affil: MSN, MBA, RN, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA sug: ab: Significance & Background: Patients treated in oncology infusion centers can face wait times reaching 102 minutes1. Patient dissatisfaction from long wait times is reported in hematology/oncology populations2-4. Evidence suggests a negative association between prolonged patient wait time (PWT) and patient satisfactions. In our outpatient day hospital, patients were experiencing wait times of greater than 65 minutes from appointment time to first medication administration. Purpose: To reduce PWT to 15 minutes from appointment time and to increase patient satisfaction. Interventions: An outpatient oncology infusion committee was formed including nursing leadership, unit nurses, clinical nurse specialist, infusion pharmacy manager and data manager. Baseline PWT data from April to June, 2025 was reviewed and wait time root cause analysis was performed. Inclusion criteria (unlinked appointments, infusion time 2 hours or less, medication list preapproved by pharmacy, no conditional hold parameter) and exclusion criteria (linked appointments, conditional hold parameters, medications outside of pre-approved list, weekend and add-on appointments, medications with one hour shelf life or less) were developed. The nurse coordinator identified patients who met inclusion criteria two days prior to appointment and informed pharmacy. Pharmacy and nurse education completed. Daily huddles were held to review workflow to achieve PWT goal. Data collection period of July 6 -September 25, 2025 (n=81 patients) was tracked for appointment or check-in times (if patient late) to first drug administration. Pharmacy preparation time analyzed. Press Ganey (PG) patient satisfaction score compared pre and post intervention. Analysis of fallouts from pre- approved lists completed. Results: Appointment time to first medication administration (drug wait time) reduced from 67.4 min to 64.7 minutes. Reduction in pharmacy medication preparation time: (chemotherapy request to premed ready and chemotherapy request to chemotherapy ready) -- 9 minutes/ 35 minutes to 6 minutes/25 minutes. Reduction in appointment time to first medication administration from 20 minutes (exclusion criteria) to 8.6 minutes (inclusion criteria). Pre intervention, patient satisfaction was rated at 81.7% compared with 88.6% post intervention representing a 6.9% improvement. Discussion: PWT was reduced by 11. 4 minutes during observation period. Pharmacy preparation time reduced by 33.3% /28.6%. PG patient satisfaction score improved in first quarter after intervention. Reasons for fallouts include: Late arrival, toileting, temperature adjustment and snack needs. Key outcome, process and balance metrics met. Fast track development can improve PWT and increase patient satisfaction. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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