Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Development Of A Hospital Readmission Reduction Program For Patients Discharged To Skilled Nursing Facilities: An Application Of Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning Techniques, Anna Stachel

Dissertations and Theses

Background

Hospital readmissions within 30 days after discharge have drawn national policy attention as they are a reflection of suboptimal patient care. Readmissions are costly, accounting for more than $17 billion in potentially avoidable Medicare expenditures - nearly 78% of readmissions may be avoidable. Rich electronic data from medical records, growing computing capacities, and open source machine learning algorithms offer new opportunities to predict patients at high risk for readmission and prevent readmission through focused interventions. Prediction models might also serve to provide a more nuanced context of patient characteristics that lead to variations in readmission rates. Furthermore, transitional care …

Impact Of Wait Times, Perception Of Care And Environment On Patient Satisfaction At Infusion Centers And Dialysis Centers, Ke Li Yew

Dissertations and Theses

Waiting time is a significant component of patient satisfaction. Patient satisfaction is an increasingly important parameter in assessing the quality of care. Understanding the most important factors impacting overall satisfaction can help health care administrators and providers improve patient care. Numerous studies showed that there is a strong and negative relationship between wait times and patient satisfaction at ambulatory clinics, orthopedic clinics, endocrinology clinics or emergency rooms. However, patient satisfaction at infusion centers and dialysis centers has not been widely studied. This study aimed to investigate relationships between perceived waiting times, perception of care and environment and patient satisfaction at …

Analysis Of Delays In Processing Times In An Ophthalmology Clinic, Kai Yung Natalie Lui

Dissertations and Theses

Efficiency is an important component of any medical practice. It facilitates quality care, reduction in wait time, patient and staff satisfaction, and decreased cost. The purpose of this study was to identify bottlenecks in the current processing system in the Eye Center at Hershey Penn State Medical Center. Data was obtained about patients arriving at the clinic for ancillary tests such as visual field testing and retinal imaging. Analysis of this data revealed a statistically significant longer average length of visit for patients who received testing in comparison to those who did not. However, due to the small sample size …

Can The Kanban Technique Reduce Medical Errors?, Juhi Hegde

Dissertations and Theses

This study discusses common medical errors and the extent of harm caused in the United States and explores the application of the Kanban technique of Lean Management in the healthcare industry to reduce medical errors. It also describes various scenarios of how the visual scheduling/ signaling system has been incorporated for continuous process improvement in the clinical and non-clinical sectors of the industry based on several review articles. Furthermore, a survey study was performed in order to assess whether ‘Kanban Visual Management System’ utilization in healthcare has the ability to reduce medical errors. A convenience sample of healthcare providers was …