Just as the root cause of the problem turned out to be quite simple, so was the solution. Dexter asked the experts -- the technicians running the CT and MRI instruments -- to estimate how long each procedure should take. Dexter and Yue analyzed the experts' responses and determined that using these estimates significantly improved the accuracy of predicting how long each case would take.
A third member of Dexter's team, Angella Dow, helped to implement the solution into a simple Web-based system that allows UI schedulers to more accurately schedule diagnostic scans with anesthesia and minimize the necessary pre-anesthesia fasting times for very young patients.
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"Doing a better job predicting start times not only means less inconvenience, it also means that children are required to fast for only short amounts of time," Dexter said.
The UI Web site (www.CaseDuration.com), which has been in effect for several months, allows schedulers to check boxes that define the scanning procedure -- the type of scan, the body part or parts involved and the instrument used, for example. The computer program, using the MRI/CT experts' knowledge, then calculates how long the scan will take. Using the patient's age and the scheduled start time for the procedure, the program also can calculate the exact times at which a child can safely have her last food and drink.
While this new procedure works and has benefited patients at UI Hospitals and Clinics, Dexter also wanted to know if the science behind this study could be universally useful in other facilities. Further analysis proved that the methodology could be applied to a wide variety of hospital settings.
"We are not only meeting the health care needs of our own patients, but we are doing the research that will improve health care worldwide, which is also part of our mission," Dexter said.
University of Iowa Health Care describes the partnership between the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine and UI Hospitals and Clinics and the patient care, medical education and research programs and services they provide. Visit UI Health Care online at www.uihealthcare.com.
SOURCE: University of Iowa Health Science Relations, 5135 Westlawn, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1178
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