Performance Improvement Plan: Case of Belated Lab Test

Performance Improvement Plan: Case of Belated Lab Test

Introduction

According to Mone, London, and Mone, (2018), performance measurement refers to the collection, analysis and reporting of information regarding an individual’s performance. A performance improvement plan is a document which states recurring performance issues and the goals that the performer has to attain to regain a good reputation (Mone et al. 2018). Addressed in this document is the subject of belated lab tests at the College Community Hospital (CCH). The primary issue is the slow turnaround time for laboratory tests which is what will be covered in this performance improvement plan. Included are the steps and flow of activities that lead up to delayed lab test results, a flow chart, performance measures, customer issues and performance opportunities that can be included by future work teams such as in the picking up of results from the outbox in a quicker manner.

Performance Measures

As explained above, performance measurement refers to the collection, analysis and reporting of information regarding performance. The primary issue is on the slow turnaround time of laboratory results which is a disadvantage that prompts the understanding of the steps that are taken to arrive at the point of expecting laboratory tests. Below are a list and a flowchart showing these processes.

List of Activities

• The doctor makes rounds and checks patients and decides that a test is needed for a patient
• The doctor/ nurse writes a request on a request slip which is signed
• If the nurse writes the request slip, then the doctor has to co-sign it
• The requests go to Beth for stamping with the patient’s name and the record number
• Routine requests go into the box, but STAT and Urgent categories prompt a calling.
• Requests get picked up, and the draw gets done if the patient is available and the specimen gets delivered to the laboratory.
• The laboratory takes the specimen where it gets tested and results put on the form and in the outbox where the messenger picks them up and bring them back to the floor.
• The results are then put with the chart and flagged, and whenever they are categorized as STATS, the doctor is informed that the results are available.

Flowchart

Effects of the situation

The issue of big turnaround time in laboratory test results as seen in the case firstly affects the doctors’ schedules. It gets explained that whenever the doctors want the lab tests of a sample say, by morning yet, they requested it in the evening, they have to categorize the tests as either STATS or Urgent. If the requests are classified as routine, they take a long time of up to twenty-four hours which may affect doctor schedules. Also, as a result of the laboratory results that have a big turnaround time, patient treatments can get delayed since, when the tests are being awaited, the procedure is pending.

Evaluating Customer Satisfaction

Iglesias, Markovic, and Rialp (2019) explain that in all organizations, one of the critical factors that need to get measured is customer satisfaction. Some of the ways to measure customer satisfaction include in-app customer surveys, post-customer surveys, volunteered feedback, customer surveys through email, and measuring the customer retention rate (Iglesias et al., 2019). For the case of delayed laboratory tests, the tools that I would use to determine the expectations of customers and measure their satisfaction are the Net Promoter Score (NPS), volunteered feedback. Patients mostly consider the ideal treatment to include gentle treatment from all facility personnel, excellent environments, and quick response to their medical issues (Berhane & Enquselassie, 2016). The Net Promoter Score, according to Rajasekaran and Dinesh (2018), measures customer experience. The tool provides an index range which, as Rajasekaran and Dinesh (2018) assert, specifies the willingness of a client or customer in recommending other people to use the services they obtained from an institution. The NPS will, therefore, be useful for determining customer satisfaction. Volunteered feedback, on the other hand, will ensure that the customers can describe their experience, noting down what they expect from the healthcare institution in detail, hence making it a useful tool for determining customer expectations. The volunteered feedback mechanism can also get used by internal hospital customers.

Conclusion

The findings of the case were that the issue of the slow turnaround time of laboratory results is mostly a disadvantageous one that presents adverse effects on the hospital’s personnel and the customers. Issues of blame were observed in the given case, with departments feeling like other departments are responsible for the problem. The issue, however, should be looked into collectively by all departments meaning that all departments involved in the lab test result return rate should ensure an improvement of the areas which were noted by the other teams. Some of the areas that should get looked into in future, therefore, include the testing department leaving the specimens sitting in their receiving window, the messenger who was observed leaving results in the outbox for more than an hour, and the standards made by the Patient Care Committee may need an amendment.

References

Berhane, A., & Enquselassie, F. (2016). Patient expectations and their satisfaction in the context of public hospitals. Patient preference and adherence, 10, 1919.

Iglesias, O., Markovic, S., & Rialp, J. (2019). How does sensory brand experience influence brand equity? Considering the roles of customer satisfaction, customer affective commitment, and employee empathy. Journal of Business Research, 96, 343-354.

Mone, E. M., London, M., & Mone, E. M. (2018). Employee engagement through effective performance management: A practical guide for managers. Routledge.

Rajasekaran, M. N., & Dinesh, M. N. (2018). How Net Promoter Score Relates To Organizational Growth. International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 6(2), 2320-2882.